DON’T BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU THINK!

Did you know that we have between 70,000 to 100,000 thoughts everyday? These thoughts are constantly helping us to interpret the world around us, describing what is happening and trying to make sense of it by helping us interpret events, sights, sounds, smells and feelings.

Without realising it we are giving meaning to our experiences through the interpretations that our thoughts make. As Epicetus in the 1st Century said: “Men are not disturbed by things, but by the view they take of them”.

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) says that it is not the event which causes the emotion, but the meaning we give that event – or what we THINK about that event. It is therefore important to remember that thoughts are NOT statements of FACT.

Often in therapy, and especially when working with particular therapeutic approaches such as CBT, we focus on evaluating the accuracy of our thoughts. It can be helpful to spend time distinguishing between what is fact and what is opinion, and the impact that particular thoughts have on your emotions and behaviour.

To find out more about CBT, please contact us.