I'll begin by briefly explaining what a cognition is. A cognition is a thought or perception. In other words, your cognitions are the way you are thinking about things at any moment, including this very moment. These thoughts scroll across your mind automatically as you perceive the world around you and often have a huge impact on how you feel.
In fact, your thoughts create your feelings. This is the powerful principle at the heart of cognitive therapy--your feelings result from the messages you give yourself. In fact, your thoughts often have much more to do with how you feel than what is actually happening in your life.
This isn't a new idea. Nearly two thousand years ago the Greek philosopher, Epictetus, stated that people are disturbed "not by things, but by the views we take of them." And even Shakespeare expressed a similar idea when he said: "there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so" Hamlet, Act 2, Scene 2. Rene Descartes, the Father of Existentialism, summed it up succinctly as ergo et sum--I think, therefore I am.
Although the idea has been around for ages, most depressed people do not really comprehend it. Nearly all depressed people are convinced that they are facing some special, awful truth about themselves and the world, and that their terrible feelings are absolutely realistic and inevitable. Certainly bad things do happen and life does hand most of us a dirty deal at times. Many people do experience catastrophic financial losses and confront devastating personal problems.
Our genes, our hormones, and childhood experiences probably do have an impact on how we think and feel. And other people can be mean, annoying, cruel, harassing or simply thoughtless. But all the theories about the causes of bad moods have the tendency to make us hapless victims--because we are made to think the causes result from something beyond our control.
In contrast, you can learn to change the way you think about things, and you can also change your basic values and beliefs. And when you do, you will often experience profound and lasting changes in your mood, outlook, creativity and productivity. That, in a nutshell, is what cognitive therapy is all about.
The theory is straightforward and may seem overly simple--but don't write it off as pop psychology. I think you will discover that cognitive therapy can be surprisingly helpful--even if you feel pretty skeptical (as I did) when you first learn about it. The effectiveness of cognitive therapy has been confirmed by many outcome studies by researchers throughout the world in the past two decades.
No matter how terrible your depression, low self-esteem or anxiety may feel, the prognosis for recovery through cognitive therapy alone or as an adjunct to medications is excellent. You may be convinced that your own case is so bad, so overwhelming and hopeless, that you are the one person who will never get well, no matter what. But sooner or later, the clouds have a way of blowing away and the sky suddenly clears and the sun begins to shine again.
When this happens, the feelings of relief and joy can be overwhelmingly brilliant.
References:
Cognitive Therapy and the Emotional Disorders by Aaron T. Beck
Cognitive Therapy: Basics and Beyond by Judith S. Beck
Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy by David D. Burns
Copyright 2003-2004 Azlan Adnan Legal Notice
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