Cognitive restructuring
'Cognition' is a word used to denote a thought or belief, and 'restructuring' involves challenging a cognition by looking at the evidence for or against it. The basic idea behind cognitive restructuring is that thoughts themselves are not facts; you need to consider whether the thoughts you are having are true and to consider whether there are any other ways to thinking about a particular situation. At first this can be a real challenge: we often believe what we think and don't question our own thoughts. However, often our thinking is biased, and with perfectionism it can be biased towards thinking too negatively and harshly about yourself.
What impact are your thoughts having?
Before beginning this program, you may have read the FAQs or Participant Information which describe this program as being based on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, or CBT for short.
CBT is a type of therapy which looks at three key areas:
Thoughts
What we think
Emotions
What we feel
Behaviours
What we do
Watch the following video to find out more
What we say to ourselves and what we think has a profound impact on our mood. When you have perfectionism and are often thinking that you are failing, or criticising yourself for not doing well enough, this way of thinking can make you feel anxious, frustrated, and depressed.
Not only does negative thinking have an impact on your feelings, it also has an impact on the way you behave.
Consider the following situation
Two student each receive a mark of 79% for their exam.
The first student, with no perfectionism, thinks this is a good result even though it's not a distinction, and feels proud of their achievement. They decide afterwards to celebrate by going to dinner with a group of friends.
The second student, with perfectionism, thinks that this result falls short of their standards, which means they are a failure, and so feels disappointed and depressed. They decide to not share their results with anyone and avoid all social media, effectively isolating themselves from company.
These two student are in the exact same situation and yet have opposing reactions. The difference in the way they feel and behave is accounted for by the difference in the way they think.
It is important to become aware of what you are thinking because negative thinking can impact how you perceive yourself, others, and the world as a whole.
Since it is so important to realise your habitual thoughts, the rest of this program will largely focus on thinking patterns and their subsequent actions.