Читать книгу Cognitive Behavioural Therapy For Dummies - Rob Willson - Страница 53

All good scientists keep records of their experiments. If you do the same, you can look back over your results in order to

 Draw conclusions.

 Decide what kind of experiment you may want to conduct next in order to gather more information.

 Remind yourself that many of your negative predictions won’t come true.

To help you keep records of your experiments, photocopy Figure 4-1, and use it as often as you like, following the instructions in the figure.

Try to have a no-lose perspective on your experiments. If you do one experiment and it goes well, then great! However, if you plan an experiment but ultimately avoid doing it, you can at least identify the thoughts that blocked you. Even if your negative predictions turn out to be accurate, you have an opportunity to see how well you cope – and very probably that it isn’t the end of the world – and then decide whether you need to take further action. The point is, you can always gather information that you can make into a useful experience.