Chaining

Some people find that when they write a rational response, it doesn’t work very well because a new distressing thought immediately gets triggered. For example, in response to the distressing thought “Nobody loves me” you might write, “That’s not true. My mom loves me.” But then you start thinking, “Yeah, but my mom is the only one who loves me!” In that case, write this new distressing thought in the left hand column and start the process over again. It would look something like this:

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You might now respond, “Well, in addition to my mom, my sister loves me, and my friends love me,” but now you think, “Yeah, but no one loves me romantically.” So Chain this thought into the left hand column and keep on going. Here’s what an entire chain might look like:

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This process is called "chaining" and it's a good process, because you want as many distressing thoughts to come up as possible while you are there in front of a piece of paper (because doing it on paper is stronger than when you do it in your head).

Try doing dysfunctional thoughts records three times a week. Once you’ve memorized the distortions, try doing it in your head and reserve the paper version for the thoughts you’re having trouble with.

If you really enjoy dysfunctional thought records and want to learn more about them, I recommend reading Cognitive Behavior Therapy: Basics and Beyond by Judith Beck and Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy by David Burns.