Identifying the Thoughts That Cause Anxiety

2019 ◽  
pp. 83-108
Author(s):  
Debra A. Hope ◽  
Richard G. Heimberg ◽  
Cynthia L. Turk
Keyword(s):  
Information Processing ◽  
Cognitive Restructuring ◽  
Automatic Thoughts ◽  
Information Processing Biases ◽  
Thinking Errors

Cognitive restructuring is a procedure that helps to examine how people are thinking and to consider whether there may be a more useful way to look at a situation that makes them anxious. Clients learn to identify the thinking errors in the automatic thoughts (ATs) they have when they get anxious. They also have the opportunity to see if they tend to use particular thinking errors when they have anxious thoughts. Clients are taught (a) what they think influences how anxious they feel and (b) how to change what they are thinking so that they can better manage their anxiety and do the things they want to do in life. This chapter introduces the idea of information-processing biases using the “amber-colored glasses” metaphor. As people learn to change their ATs, they feel less anxious and depressed.

Cognitive Restructuring

2019 ◽  
pp. 49-60
Author(s):  
Debra A. Hope ◽  
Richard G. Heimberg ◽  
Cynthia L. Turk
Keyword(s):  
Information Processing ◽  
Family Environment ◽  
Cognitive Restructuring ◽  
Research Literature ◽  
Automatic Thoughts ◽  
Socially Anxious ◽  
Information Processing Biases ◽  
Natural Outcome ◽  
Thinking Errors ◽  
Logical Errors

This chapter introduces the idea of information-processing biases using the “amber-colored glasses” metaphor. Although information-processing biases are well established in the research literature, this is a difficult concept to communicate to socially anxious individuals. By describing the amber-colored glasses as a natural outcome of a particular combination of genetics, family environment, and important experiences, the therapist can indicate that the way in which the client processes information makes sense; it just may not be functional. The chapter also covers identification of automatic thoughts (ATs) and finding logical errors (the identification of thinking errors) in ATs. The notion of ATs is used extensively throughout treatment.

Tools to Challenge Your Automatic Thoughts

2019 ◽  
pp. 109-130
Author(s):  
Debra A. Hope ◽  
Richard G. Heimberg ◽  
Cynthia L. Turk
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Restructuring ◽  
Automatic Thoughts ◽  
Working Through ◽  
Key Points ◽  
Thinking Errors

This chapter covers the two remaining major steps in cognitive restructuring. The first of these is questioning whether automatic thoughts are really true. A list of all-purpose questions called “disputing questions” is presented. Some of these questions are particularly appropriate for automatic thoughts (ATs) with certain thinking errors, and others work for a variety of thoughts. The next step in the cognitive restructuring procedure is to develop a rational response, which is a statement that summarizes or highlights the key points a client has discovered working through the Anxious Self/Coping Self dialogue. Often the rational response is a shorthand reminder to stay focused and think more rationally. When people are in a situation that makes them anxious, they can repeat the rational response in their head as ATs arise.

Cognitive Restructuring

2019 ◽  
pp. 61-74
Author(s):  
Debra A. Hope ◽  
Richard G. Heimberg ◽  
Cynthia L. Turk
Keyword(s):  
Social Anxiety ◽  
Cognitive Restructuring ◽  
Automatic Thoughts ◽  
Session Change ◽  
The Social ◽  
Thinking Errors

This chapter builds on the first two steps of cognitive restructuring that were developed in chapter 5: (a) the identification of automatic thoughts (ATs) and the emotions they cause and (b) the identification of thinking errors. This chapter presents the remaining steps in cognitive restructuring: (c) challenging ATs by using disputing questions and (d) generating rational responses. The session opens with a review of the Social Anxiety Session Change Index and homework, and then each concept is covered. There is also a brief discussion in anticipation of the first exposure in the next session. The first in-session exposure is a key moment in treatment.

Information Processing Biases in Impairment Decisions: Effect of Reversibility of Impairment Losses and Disclosure Transparency

2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 77-94
Author(s):  
Hwee Cheng Tan ◽  
Ken T. Trotman
Keyword(s):  
Information Processing ◽  
Information Search ◽  
Jel Classification ◽  
Regulatory Requirements ◽  
Experimental Conditions ◽  
Information Evaluation ◽  
Evaluation Bias ◽  
Information Processing Biases ◽  
Search Bias

ABSTRACT We investigate the effect of regulatory requirements on impairment decisions and managers' search for and evaluation of impairment information. We manipulate reversibility of impairment losses (“can be reversed” versus “cannot be reversed”) and transparency in disclosures of impairment assumptions (more transparent versus less transparent) in a 2 × 2 experiment. We find that managers are more willing to impair when impairment losses can be reversed than when they cannot be reversed, but this effect does not vary with disclosure transparency. We also find that managers display information search bias in all four experimental conditions, however, regulatory requirements do not result in differences in the level of information search bias across the conditions. In contrast, regulatory requirements affect the differences in the level of information evaluation bias across conditions. We find that when impairment losses cannot be reversed, information evaluation bias is higher when disclosures are more transparent than less transparent. JEL Classification: M40; M41.

Childhood Emotional Maltreatment, Cognitive Vulnerability to Depression, and Self-Referent Information Processing in Adulthood: Reciprocal Relations

2003 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 347-358 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer A. Steinberg ◽  
Brandon E. Gibb ◽  
Lauren B. Alloy ◽  
Lyn Y. Abramson
Keyword(s):  
Information Processing ◽  
Cognitive Vulnerability ◽  
Reciprocal Relations ◽  
Emotional Maltreatment ◽  
Current Information ◽  
Information Processing Biases ◽  
Cognitive Risk ◽  
Alternate Model ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Risk For Depression

Previous work has established a relationship between reports of childhood emotional maltreatment and cognitive vulnerability to depression, as well as an association between cognitive vulnerability and self-referent information-processing biases. Findings from this study of individuals at low (LR) and high (HR) cognitive risk for depression revealed a relationship between reports of childhood emotional maltreatment and current information processing biases. Specifically, individuals with greater childhood emotional maltreatment exhibited more negative self-referent information processing. Moreover, cognitive risk mediated the relationship between childhood emotional maltreatment and these information-processing biases. Testing an alternate model, information-processing biases also mediated the relationship between childhood emotional maltreatment and cognitive risk.

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