-heal the sick and save people, and repair their negative core beliefs.

Sally is a freshman. During her four months in college, she felt particularly depressed and anxious. Such anxiety and depression affected her study activities. In several typical cases, when Sally is ready to study, she will think "I can't, I'm too failed, in this case, I can't do it", and at the same time, a picture appears in her mind: she is carrying a heavy burden and trudging aimlessly, looking humble. Such thinking activities and such pictures make her feel sad. In another scene, when she was reviewing for the final exam, she had this idea: it's too difficult. What if others don't want to help me? What if I fail the exam? "Then she will feel anxious and find it difficult to concentrate on her studies. Sometimes, she still has the idea: "I should learn more." "The idea made her feel guilty. In all these cases, she finally stopped studying and sometimes cried.

In the first stage of psychological counseling, the counselor applied techniques such as defense, possibility area, cost-benefit and behavior activation. After six weeks of psychological counseling, her mood has improved obviously, and anxiety and depression rarely appear in her daily life. Even if there is anxiety and depression, she can use cognitive technology to deal with it.

As the saying goes, cure diseases and save lives, eradicate roots. In order to help Sally understand the root causes of depressive symptoms and fundamentally eliminate the root causes of depressive symptoms. The counselor helped Sally find her negative core beliefs and began to work on her negative core beliefs. In this process, the most basic technology is the "core belief worksheet". In addition, there are two kinds of self-dialogue techniques, biographical analysis and metaphor. In the next few issues, we will show you the application methods of these technologies. )

1. Core belief: I am incompetent and unlovable?

Baker believes that all kinds of specific concepts about self are derived from a core self-concept, while those distorted and negative concepts that cause negative emotions are derived from the negative core self-concept, which is the so-called core belief. Baker found that these negative core beliefs can be divided into two categories: incompetence and unlovable. Patients may have one or two negative core beliefs.

These core beliefs are usually hidden in the depths, and patients use protective strategies to cover them up, presenting themselves and others with a "capable and lovely" image. Once the patient encounters a huge life event, the original protection strategy is broken, the deep negative core beliefs are exposed, and the patient produces a series of negative automatic thinking concepts and negative emotions.

The patient's core belief that I am incompetent or unlovable is wrong and distorted. In order to eliminate diseases and root causes, cognitive therapists need to correct distorted core beliefs. Let's give an example of test anxiety to illustrate that students get very good test scores from primary school to high school. When the calendar came to March when the college entrance examination approached, several dark horses rushed out of the grade and ranked higher than this student. The student failed to earn back the ranking in the following time, and the result showed serious test anxiety.

Counselors understand the causes of exam anxiety. Some students will say sorry to their parents if they don't do well in the college entrance examination. Parents have worked hard to raise themselves, hoping to get into a good university, find a good job and earn more money, so that parents can live a good life. By analyzing this concept, we can find that patients use the protection strategy of "meeting the needs or expectations of others" to cover up their negative core belief of "unlovable". The patient is a "obedient and sensible" good boy in the eyes of her parents, but this time, facing her parents' important expectations for the college entrance examination, she found that she could not "meet the expectations of others", that is to say, the strategies she used in the past did not work. This exposes the core belief of "I am not cute", and the symptoms of test anxiety are its concrete manifestations.

Some students gave different explanations for the same situation. Some students will say that if they don't do well in the exam, they will be "ashamed to meet their elders in Jiangdong", so they can't accept that they don't do well in the exam. By analyzing this idea, we can find that patients are applying the "hard" protection strategy. The student has been a diligent and conscious good student since he was a child, and his "hard work" strategy is to cover up the core belief that "I am incompetent". When he found that no matter how hard he worked, his ranking was bound to decline, major life events broke through his consistent protection strategy, and the negative core belief "I am incompetent" was exposed, resulting in exam anxiety symptoms.

It can be seen that the root of all negative emotions is negative core beliefs, which will be produced when the "protection strategy" commonly used by patients fails. Of course, if the patient's protection strategy is effective, that is, using negative core beliefs, there will be no negative emotional problems.

In fact, negative emotions (such as exam anxiety) and protective strategies (such as meeting other people's expectations or working hard) are not the key to the problem. The crux of the problem is that the patient's negative core beliefs are wrong and do not conform to the objective facts. Therefore, Baker's cognitive therapy believes that as long as negative core beliefs are corrected, all problems will be solved.

2. What is the core belief worksheet?

The formation of any core belief is based on certain evidence (that is, life events). Therefore, to correct the wrong and negative core beliefs, we need to work hard to support their negative core beliefs and add or supplement life events that are beneficial to new and positive core beliefs.

The core belief worksheet is such a technology, which re-examines the evidence supporting the core belief in the past, reinterprets such evidence, and weakens the support of the evidence for the core belief; It supplements life events that support positive core beliefs to help patients consolidate positive core beliefs. In other words, the core belief worksheet starts from two aspects, which not only weakens the influence of the original life events supporting negative core beliefs, but also supplements the power of life events supporting positive core beliefs.

3. Application examples of behavior testing technology

The core belief worksheet is the most basic cognitive technology to correct negative core beliefs, and it will be applied to almost all cases dealing with core beliefs. For psychological counselors who study cognitive therapy, they must first master such a technology. We take Sally's case mentioned at the beginning of this article as an example to illustrate:

The core belief homework list includes two columns: on the left is the evidence supporting positive core beliefs; On the right is the evidence supporting negative core beliefs (and the reinterpretation of these evidence), and the table style is as follows:

Evidence to support new core beliefs

(I am a capable ordinary person)

Evidence to support core old beliefs

(reinterpret the evidence of "I am incompetent")

Recently, there are several things that make Sally feel incompetent. The first thing is that when reading an economics book, she found that she failed to understand the concept of economics. The second thing is that I am too nervous to ask the teacher questions. The third thing is that I got a B in Chinese. These three things seem to support her old belief of "incompetence" (that is, negative core belief).

Here, the counselor asked her to question the explanation of everything. For example, she doesn't understand the concept of economics. She reinterpreted it like this: "I haven't read this content yet, but I may understand it after reading it. The worst thing may be that I am incompetent this time, but it may also be the teacher's fault, but she didn't make it clear. " For the second thing, she re-recognized it like this: "Because I think I should be able to solve these problems by myself, I want to ask her if the teacher thinks I am not ready." For the third thing, she reinterpreted it like this: "Getting a B is an acceptable score. If it really doesn't work, I won't go to college and stay here. "

In addition to helping Sally reinterpret the evidence supporting the old beliefs, the counselor also helped Sally get the evidence supporting the new beliefs (that is, positive core beliefs) in her own life. She thought of these: the literary thesis is well written; Ask questions actively in statistics course; Can understand this core belief worksheet; Understand most of the contents of the sixth chapter of the statistics textbook ...

The consultant instructs Sally to fill in these contents on the core belief worksheet, usually when speaking orally.

Evidence to support new core beliefs

(I am a capable ordinary person)

Evidence to support old core beliefs

(reinterpret the evidence of "I am incompetent")

1 the literary paper is well written;

2. Ask questions actively in the course of statistics;

3 can understand this core belief worksheet;

4. Understand most of the contents of the sixth chapter of the statistics textbook.

1 When I read an economics book, I found that I failed to understand the concept of economics.

I haven't seen it yet. You may understand after reading it. The worst thing may be that I am incompetent this time, but it may also be the teacher's fault, but she didn't make it clear. )

2? I feel nervous and afraid to ask the teacher questions.

Because, I think I should be able to solve these problems myself. I want to ask her. The teacher will think I'm not ready. )

3? I got a B in the Chinese exam. Come on, B.

This is an acceptable score. If I really can't do it, I won't go to college and stay here.

Sally feels much better after reading this form. After the counselor told her to go back, she would read this form every day, record the evidence supporting the new belief in the left column, reinterpret the evidence supporting the old belief, and then fill it in the right column. Bring it back next week to continue the discussion with the consultant.