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.
Why participate?
For all of us, free time is valuable and the last thing you want is to waste your limited time on something that isn’t going to be helpful.
Perhaps you are reading this because you are feeling curious, but not ready to commit to the whole program. Perhaps you are interested in self-improvement, but aren’t sure where to begin. Or perhaps you think perfectionism is relevant to you, but don’t see how this program will improve your own wellbeing.
All of these are valid and relevant concerns.
Having higher levels of perfectionism has been associated with mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, panic disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and eating disorders. One of the benefits of tackling perfectionism is that it can be a great first step to tackling bigger mental health concerns.
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This program is looking to make changes to people’s wellbeing by working on various areas associated with perfectionism. So, if you would like to increase your productivity without working longer hours, improve your sense of self-worth, or spend less time being self-critical, then this program might be relevant to you.
Think of these modules as like medication, you can’t expect the medication to work effectively if you don’t take the prescribed dose.
For this program to be effective, the optimum dose is 2 modules per week for 4 weeks. Doing the sessions is necessary to see a change- just like you can’t take a medication once and expect to be immediately better!
If you would like to know more about the book that this program is based on, check out the goodreads page here.