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IN THIS CHAPTER

The role of attention in overcoming emotional problems

Concentrating on tasks

Directing and redirecting your attention

Giving unpleasant thoughts and images time to subside

Practising mindfulness

Traditionally, CBT has tended to concentrate many of its techniques on helping people change the content of their thinking – from a negative to a more realistic thought, for example. However, modern CBT has begun to tackle another area of human psychology – how we focus our attention.

This chapter does not discuss what you think but does discuss how you manage your thoughts and attention. We introduce task concentration training and mindfulness, two techniques for managing problematic thoughts and exerting some power over your attention. This chapter has two main messages:

 For the most part, your random thoughts, no matter how distressing and negative, are not the real problem. Rather, the importance or meaning you attach to those thoughts is what causes you the problem. If you view the notion ‘I’m a hopeless case’ as a thought rather than a fact, you can greatly lessen its impact. Similarly, if you experience an unsavoury intrusive thought (like people with OCD often have), you can see it as a normal human phenomenon and not fall into the trap of taking it seriously.

 When you have an emotional problem, your mind tends to attach unhelpful meanings to aspects of yourself, the world around you and other people. You can also tend to overfocus on particular aspects of these unhelpful meanings. Fortunately, you can develop the ability to steer your attention towards, and away from, any features of your experience you choose, which can help improve your mood and reduce anxiety.