Hello. One of the central principles of cognitive
behavioural therapy or CBT is a recognition of the power of thoughts and how our thoughts impact our
moods and behaviours. In this video I'll discuss the three layers of thoughts: negative automatic
thoughts, underlying rules and assumptions and core beliefs. Learning to identify the three
layers of thoughts can help you understand and make sense of issues such as anxiety, depression
and shame. It can also help you identify why and how you get stuck in unhelpful patterns of
behaving or problematic interactions with others. Automatic thoughts are the moment-to-moment
thoughts that just pop into your mind throughout the day. As you are constantly thinking you have
automatic thoughts all the time, they are part of your internal self-talk and have a reoccurring
quality. These thoughts can be pleasant, unpleasant or neutral. The type of automatic thoughts we
discuss in CBT are negative automatic thoughts and can consist of images, words or memories that
are distorted, exaggerated or irrational in nature. You may be unaware of these thoughts but are very
familiar with the emotions they create such as anxiety, depression, shame, guilt, sadness
and anger. Let's look at an example: Mary's manager calls her into the office. Mary
has the automatic thought I'm going to be fired. The image comes to mind of being
homeless and living on a street corner. Mary then experiences a memory of being told
off by the headmaster when she was 10 years old. Now different people have different automatic
thoughts for example many people who are called into the manager's office might think
'great I'm going to get a pay rise' and another person might have more of a neutral
thought such as 'I wonder what my manager wants'. There are many ways that we can interpret
being called into the manager's office and how you interpret events impacts your mood
and how you behave. Specific types of thoughts are linked to specific moods for example anxiety
is frequently accompanied by thoughts of danger or vulnerability. Such thoughts are usually future
focussed, they usually start with 'what if' and end with a prediction about something awful that might
happen. For example: What if I'm seriously ill', 'What if I'm not good enough', 'What if
I have a panic attack and collapse'. Depression is usually accompanied
by negative thoughts about yourself, the world and your future for example: "I'm a loser',
'Life is so unfair', 'I'm never going to be happy'. In addition to automatic thoughts you
have underlying assumptions that run under the surface, usually below your awareness. Underlying assumptions are basically
the rules that guide your life for example: Clare starts work every day at 8am even though her contracted start time is 9am. Clare grew up in a family that valued hard work
and operated on the rule 'first in and last out'. For Clare arriving to work first and leaving last is
a sign of discipline, respect and conscientiousness. Clare held the underlying assumption 'I
must work hard and go above and beyond, only then am I good enough'. We can see how Clare's
underlying assumption has guided her behaviour. Clare had developed her underlying assumptions
by internalising the messages she received from her family, her culture and the world around her.
Now some underlying rules and assumptions are healthy and some are not. Having the rule 'it's
good to eat vegetables every day' is helpful because there is research to support this. It's
also healthy to have some flexibility in rules so 'it's good to eat vegetables every day but I'll
eat cake birthdays and Christmas'. So that's a healthy rule that has some flexibility. Unhelpful
rules tend to be rigid and inflexible. For example holding the rule 'I must be perfect', this is
unreasonable, it's an impossible standard and it's only going to keep you feeling bad about
yourself. So the underlying rules and assumptions we target during therapy are extreme, rigid and
illogical. Underlying rules and assumptions guide your behaviours and emotional reactions. Even though underlying assumptions operate under the surface you can usually identify them via 'should', 'must' and
'if ... then' statements. For example: 'I should be the best at everything', 'I should never ask for anything',
'I must be perfect', 'I must take care of other people', 'If i don't go out on a Friday night then I am
a loser', 'If i am not in a relationship then I am unlovable'. Underlying rules and assumptions
are your guide to how you perceive, interpret and absorb information throughout your life. They
also inform your behavioural and emotional states. Core beliefs are the very essence of how
you see yourself, other people and the world. They're often described as your filters
that help process and code information. Core beliefs are usually learned
in early childhood and reverberate through your life so perhaps you are
criticised, abandoned, overprotected, excluded, abused or deprived. These events will determine
how you think, feel, act and relate to others. They also trigger strong emotional states such as
sadness, anxiety, guilt and anger. For example, Mike experiences an aching loneliness, he never met
his dad and his mum was cold and unresponsive. Mike grew up in an emotionally deprived
environment and feels detached from others. As an adult he goes from relationship to relationship
and quickly loses interest. Mike also repeats this behaviour with therapists going from one therapist
to another and never committing to therapy. Mike also finds an excuse to avoid emotional
intimacy which feels unfamiliar and uncomfortable. Mike has two primary core beliefs 'I am
unlovable' and 'Other people will hurt me'. We can also see Mike's core beliefs dictate how he
navigates the world, the choices he makes and how he interprets life events. Now core beliefs
aren't always negative, good experiences in life can lead to the development of healthy core
beliefs about yourself, other people and the world. For example 'I'm a likable person', 'I can trust
other people' and 'the world is a safe place'. In CBT we deal with negative core beliefs because
they're the types of belief that cause problems. Negative core beliefs are grouped into the
following categories: core beliefs about yourself, core beliefs about others and core beliefs about
the world. For example 'I'm weak', 'I am worthless', 'the world is a dangerous place', 'the world is
unfair', 'people can't be trusted', 'people will hurt me', It's very important core beliefs are addressed but
we always start with addressing negative automatic thoughts and underlying rules and assumptions
first, that's because the outer layer of thoughts are more accessible and can be easily tested
with interventions such as socratic questioning, thought records and behavioural experiments. Now
most of the time if we work on automatic thoughts and underlying rules and assumptions
then core beliefs will usually change but there are times when core beliefs don't shift.
In such cases you need to identify a new core belief you would like to hold and focus on strengthening
the new and more helpful core belief. Working with the CBT therapist would be
really helpful here. In summary automatic thoughts are the outer layer of thoughts, they're
the easiest to identify and most accessible. Underlying rules and assumptions are under the
surface of automatic thoughts and core beliefs are the least accessible level of thinking. All
layers are interconnected because if you work on one layer of thought you will impact the other
two layers. If you found this video interesting you might want to click on the video that's on
the screen now and if you'd like me to make more videos like this please give it a thumbs up and
subscribe. I look forward to seeing you soon.
