Taking Out Your Mental Trash PA

by Mcmullin,Rian E.

• ISBN13: 9780393704877
• ISBN10: 0393704874
• Edition: 00
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-10-17
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company

Summary

Why do negative thoughtssometimes predominate, despite your knowledge that they're unfounded?Why do your best efforts to stave off these negative thoughts so oftenfail? What can you do to identify your core beliefs? For the first time, there is a book that offers the consumer and the public what has previously been available only to professional audiences. This book is a layperson's version of Dr. McMullin's successful professional book'” The New Handbook of Cognitive Restructuring Therapy (2000)'”and his other professional works. Written by one of the founders of Cognitive Restructuring Therapy (CRT), Taking Out Your Mental Trash offers the key principles, techniques, and exercises necessary for a solid foundation in CRT. It incorporates Dr. McMullin's three decades of full time clinical practice with many thousands of clients, from many different cultures, with many different problems. The book is written in an informal, personal style and presents reading guides, copious real life examples, step-by-step instructions, picture-forming stories, illustrations, and 53 exercises and 23 worksheets to help the reader. To date, it is one of the most accessible, reader friendly, and up-to-date books for the public on CRT. Packed with problem-tackling strategies on how to use McMullin's own Cognitive Restructuring Therapy to overcome phobias, social anxiety, stress, relationship difficulties, and more, this invaluable workbook promises to help you dump even the most stubborn negative thoughts. McMullin then helps you adopt fresh beliefs and, in doing so, reclaim meaning and control over your life.

Author Biography

Rian E. McMullin, Ph.D., is the director of the Counseling Research Institute and a licensed clinical psychologist in Hawaii

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
Part I ABCs
Painting Our Own Pictures	3	(5)
The ABCs of Cognitive Restructuring Therapy	8	(9)
Our Mighty Thoughts: The Royal Road to Self-improvement	17	(4)
Emotions: How to Discover Our Feelings	21	(7)
Critical Life Events: Keep Track of the Little Things	28	(7)
Find All Your Cognitions: Worn Glasses	35	(6)
Core Beliefs: How to Find Your Core Assumptions	41	(12)
Part II Types of Mistaken Beliefs
Self-concept: Whose Mirror Are We Using?	53	(4)
Our Secret Teachers: Do We Have Good Instructors?	57	(5)
Cultural Beliefs: Are We Independent Thinkers?	62	(9)
What's in a Name? Be Careful What You Call Something	71	(6)
Self-esteem: Too Little or Too Much?	77	(7)
Prejudice: Our Fear of Strangers	84	(6)
Choosing Our Past Carefully: Keeping Our Memories from Fooling Us	90	(6)
Dream Interpretation: What They Mean and What They Don't Mean	96	(7)
Cultural Point of View: The World According to Australian Aborigines	103	(8)
Who's to Blame? When Bad Things Happen to Us	111	(5)
Superstitious Thinking: The Law of Association	116	(11)
Part III Analyzing Your Beliefs
Analyzing Beliefs: Sniffing Out the Trash	127	(7)
Gut Feelings: Can We Count on Our Intuition?	134	(6)
Who Says So? Are Authorities Always Right?	140	(5)
Finding the Good Reason: How We Fool Ourselves	145	(5)
The Law of Parsimony: How to Have Clear Thoughts	150	(7)
Our Cosmic Dance: What Should We Believe?	157	(8)
Part IV Changing Beliefs
Countering: Fighting Back	165	(7)
Alternative Beliefs: The Rule of Primacy	172	(5)
Changing the Past: Historical Resynthesis	177	(6)
Making Choices: Getting Out of Our Ruts	183	(4)
Breaking Through the Dam: Why Change is Difficult	187	(4)
Quantum Leaps: Changing Ourselves Dramatically	191	(8)
Living by Our Core Values: Making Our Lives More Meaningful	199	(7)
Beyond Payoffs: What Inspires Us to Do Things?	206	(11)
Part V Seven Beliefs To Be Trashed
The Atari Syndrome---Belief 1:1 Am Inferior to Others	217	(6)
True Love---Belief 2: There is One True Love	223	(4)
Loonies and Wackos---Belief 3:1 Must Be Crazy	227	(4)
Traumatic Experiences---Belief 4: Traumatic Life Experiences Must Always Dominate Me	231	(7)
Coveting Thy Neighbor---Belief 5: The Grass Is Always Greener on the Other Side of the Fence	238	(4)
Inventing Problems---Belief 6: Where There's Smoke There's Fire	242	(4)
The Power of the Mind---Belief 7: Our Minds Are All-powerful	246	(7)
Part VI Specific Problems
Run to the Roar: Problems with Fear	253	(6)
A Gaggle of Humans: Problems with Groups	259	(6)
Active Listening: Problems Understanding People	265	(3)
The Art of Persuasion: Problems Influencing People	268	(9)
All that Glitters Is Not Gold: Problems Being Genuine	277	(5)
How Tight Is Your String?: Problems with Stress	282	(5)
It Takes Two to Tango: Problems in the Family	287	(5)
A New View of Love: Problems with Our Intimate Relationships	292	(8)
Sanctuary: There's No Place Like Home	300	(13)
Appendices
About the Author	305	(2)
To the Professional Therapist	307	(6)
References	313	(2)
Index	315