Cognitive Restructuring - Applications Within Therapy

Applications Within Therapy

There are many methods used in cognitive restructuring, which usually involve identifying and labelling distorted thoughts, such as, "all or none thinking, disqualifying the positive, mental filtering, jumping to conclusions, catastrophizing, emotional reasoning, should statements, and personalization." The following lists methods commonly used in cognitive restructuring:

• Socratic questioning
• Thought recording
• Identifying cognitive errors
• Examining the evidence (pro-con analysis or cost-benefits analysis)
• Understanding idiosyncratic meaning/semantic techniques
• Labeling distortions
• Decatastrophizing
• Reattribution
• Cognitive Rehearsal
• Guided imagery
• Listing rational alternatives