The Logic Style of fighting against negative thoughts is to engage them by using logic and reason. It is most effective when done on paper using a Dysfunctional Thought Record.
Learn how to create a Dysfunctional Though Record by expanding the links below:
Dysfunctional Thought Record
Step 1: Draw it.
Draw three columns on a blank piece of paper, and label each column as in the example below:
Distressing Thoughts
Step 2: Write down your distressing thoughts.
In the distressing thought column, write down any sentence that goes through your mind when you are feeling anxious.
There are three rules for distressing thoughts:
The first is that you must write a complete sentence. For example, “medical illness” and “workplace” are not complete sentences. Instead, you would need to write, “I have a serious medical illness” or “I’m going to get fired.”
The second rule is that you are not allowed to write a question, because that is the wrong format. To fix this, answer the question in a negative way. For example, instead of writing “Will she call me back?”, you would write “She won’t call me back.”
The final rule is that you are not allowed to just write an emotion. For example, if you just wrote down “I’m anxious”, that’s not enough. Instead, you’d have to write down why you’re anxious.
I’ve included three distressing thoughts in the example below.
To practice this technique, write down three sentences in the distressing thought column now.
Distortions
Step 3: Identify the distortions in your thoughts.
In the distortions column, for each distressing thought, identify two or three distortions that apply to that thought. Here is the list cognitive distortions:
Cognitive Distortions
1. ALL-OR-NOTHING THINKING: You see things in black-and-white categories. All-or-nothing statements include: “I am a totally worthless parent/spouse/employee/ friend”, “I’m a loser.” If a friend doesn't call you back, they "hate" you. If you have a bad week, it means you will get fired.
2. DISQUALIFYING THE POSITIVE: You reject a compliment, or a positive aspect of your life, by insisting that it doesn’t count. For example, you might say to yourself: “I just got lucky”, “If they knew the real me, they wouldn’t like me”, or “Yeah, I’m improving, but I still not as good as so-and-so.”
3. JUMPING TO CONCLUSIONS: You make assumptions based on limited information: “I’ve been anxious for too long, so I can never get better”, “They didn’t text me back yet, so they must not like me,” or “She didn’t laugh at my joke, so I must have lost my sense of humor.”
4. MIND READING: You assume that you know what other people are thinking: “He didn’t say hello to me today, so he must not like me”, “They looked uncomfortable, so they must think I'm awkward”, or “I was really quiet, so she thinks I'm boring.”
5. FORTUNETELLING: You anticipate that things will turn out badly: “No one will ever love me” or “I’m going to die young” or “I will never feel better.”
6. CATASTROPHIZING: You exaggerate the importance of a negative event or a personal flaw: “If I lose this job/ marriage /relationship, my life will be over ”, “If I’m in pain/sick/anxious/sad, then I can’t accomplish anything at all”, or “If this date goes badly, I’ll be alone forever.”
7. EMOTIONAL REASONING: You give too much credence to your feelings and intuitions, rather than acknowledging that they are fallible: “I feel deep down inside like I will never get better, so it must be true,” “I get a bad feeling about this presentation, so it’s going to be horrible.”
8. SHOULD STATEMENTS: You tell yourself you should or must do something and hold yourself to inflexible and impossibly high standards: “I must always be charming” or “I should never make a bad mistake,” or “I must be the perfect parent/spouse/employee/friend.”
9. PERSONALIZATION: You blame yourself entirely for something. This most typically happens when a relationship ends, a group endeavor fails, or a social event goes poorly: “It’s all my fault.”
There is a lot of overlap between the distortions, but the general idea is that the more anxious you are, the more distorted your thinking will tend to be.
For each distressing thought, you write down the two or three distortions that apply to that thought the most. Here’s how I would fill out the distortions column for my distressing thoughts:
To practice this technique, write down 2-3 distortions for each of your distressing thoughts now.
Rational Responses
Step 4: Formulate a more balanced and less distorted version of your thoughts.
In the rational response column, you write down something that addresses the distressing thought but removes some of the distortions. This is similar to what you would say if you were trying to calm down a friend.
There are three standard ways to talk back to any thought:
“This thought is not true” or “This thought is not totally true.”
For example, you could respond to the distressing thought “No one will ever go out with me” with the rational response “That’s not true, I’ve been on dates before and I can always sign up for a dating app.”
“Who cares!” or “It’s not a big deal.”
For example, you could respond to the distressing thought, “I was too quiet at the dinner” with the rational response “It's okay, my friends still seem to like me even though I’m sometimes very quiet.”
“There’s something I can do about it.”
For example, you can respond to the distressing thought, “I won’t be able to hold a conversation” with the rational response, “I can practice the social skills techniques, do exposures, and keep practicing until this comes more naturally.”
As you can see from my examples, you’re not actually supposed to use the standard responses word-for-word. Instead, they’re meant to give you a strategy for fighting back against distressing thoughts.
Your responses can be short or long, just make sure they are long enough that you feel better about the distressing thought.
If you are having trouble coming up with a rational response or if you write a response and it sounds hollow, try a different type of standard response or a different combination of responses instead.
Here are the rational responses I wrote for my three distressing thoughts:
To practice this technique, write down rational responses for each of your distressing thoughts now.
Chaining
Step 5: Write down additional distressing thoughts as they get triggered.
Some people find that when they write a rational response, it doesn’t work in the sense that it just triggers up a new distressing thought. 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:
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:
This process is called "chaining" and it's a good process. 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).
OK. I tried it!
How do you feel? If doing a Dysfunctional Thought Record has made you feel calmer, then this technique is working for you. If you feel more anxious (or the same), then this is probably a bad fit for you.
When should I use the Logic Style?
If it was helpful, try doing Dysfunctional Thoughts Records for ten minutes a day for the next three days. Once you’ve memorized the distortions and the three standard responses, try doing it in your head and reserve the paper version for the thoughts you’re having trouble with.
This is a technique that many of my patients use several times a week on paper. If you come up with a really good Rational Response, it should become automatic (and in your head) whenever that particular Distressing Thought comes to mind.