3 Column Technique Practice Form

3 Column Technique Practice Online Form

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This form is intended to walk you through the cognitive behavioral therapy tool of the 3 Column Technique. This technique is to help you to identify and correct thought patterns associated with negative mood states. Instead of thinking in terms of Event ------> Feeling (in other words, "it made me feel.") you will begin to think more in terms of Event ----> Thought -------> Feeling (in other words, " An event happened and this is the thought I am having that is generating this feeling."
EVENT
Start first by describing the event associated with the negative feeling state. Describe it objectively without putting any spin on it - just the facts of what happened.
Feeling Wheel
Would you like some suggestions regarding feeling words?
- Yes
- No
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FEELINGS
Now describe the feelings you are having about the event. Try to be as specific as you can. For example, if you are angry ask yourself if it is Hurt-Angry or Frustrated-Anger. It is perfectly okay to list a set of different feelings if you are having them.
THOUGHTS
Now begin to write down the thoughts you are having about the event. Try to have this step be a "stream of consciousness." Try hard to not edit or censor yourself as if someone is looking over your shoulders. It is also okay to have thoughts start out in one direction and then link up and wind up in a completely different direction. That's just how our thought patterns work. Continue to write in a stream of consciousness fashion until you feel you have said all you have to say about the event.
Identifying Cognitive Distortions
Now read the thoughts that you write down and notice if any of the thoughts you have written down reflect any cognitive distortions. What level of hints would you like?
- No hints
- Name of Distortions
- Name and Definitions of Distortions
Cognitive Distortions List
If your narrative under thoughts contain any cognitive distortions check them off here.
- All or Nothing Thinking
- Overgeneralization
- Mental Filter
- Discounting the Positives
- Mindreading
- Fortune Telling
- Magnification
- Minimization
- Emotional Reasoning
- Should Statements
- Labeling/Mislabeling
- Personalization
- Control Fallacies
- Fallacy of Fairness
- Blaming
- Fallacy of Change
- Always be Right
- Heaven's Reward Fallacy
Cognitive Distortions List with Definitions
If your narrative under thoughts contain any cognitive distortions check them off here.
- ALL-OR-NOTHING THINKING: You see things in black and white categories. If your performance falls short of perfect; you see yourself as a total failure. Someone either loves you or they don’t. They either trust you or I don’t. I either succeeded or I failed. The distorted part of this one is taking these that are dimensional or a matter-of-degree and forcing it into two categories. We have to be perfect or we're a failure-there is no middle ground. You place people or situations in "either/or" categories, with no shades of gray or allowing for the complexity of most people and situations. If your performance falls short of perfect, you see yourself as a total failure.
- OVERGENERALIZATION: You see a single negative event as a never-ending pattern of defeat.
- MENTAL FILTER: You pick out a single negative detail and dwell on it exclusively so that your vision of all reality becomes darkened, like the drop of ink that discolors the entire beaker of water.
- DISQUALIFYING THE POSITIVE: You reject positive experiences by insisting they "don't count" for some reason or other. In this way you can maintain a negative belief that is contradicted by your everyday experiences.
- Mind Reading. You arbitrarily conclude that someone is reacting negatively to you, and you do not bother to check this out. The distortion here is that we are unable to actually read minds. We guess and are often wrong when we do.
- The FortuneTeller Error. You anticipate that things will turn out badly, and you feel convinced that your prediction is an already established fact. The distortion here is that we don’t know the future with a certainty
- MAGNIFICATION (CATASTROPHIZING) OR MINIMIZATION: You exaggerate the importance of things (such as your goof-up or someone else's achievement). Or you inappropriately shrink things until they appear tiny (your own desirable qualities or the other fellow's imperfections). This is also called the "binocular trick."
- EMOTIONAL REASONING: You assume that your negative emotions necessarily reflect the way things really are. We believe that what we feel must be true automatically. If we feel stupid and boring, then we must be stupid and boring. You assume that your unhealthy emotions reflect the way things really are - "I feel it, therefore it must be true."
- SHOULD STATEMENTS: We have a list of ironclad rules about how others and we should behave. People who break the rules make us angry, and we feel guilty when we violate these rules You try to motivate yourself with shoulds and shouldn'ts, as if you had to be whipped and punished before you could be expected to do anything. "Musts" and "oughts" are also offenders. The emotional consequence is guilt. When you direct should-statements toward others, you feel anger, frustration, and resentment.
- LABELING AND MISLABELING: This is an extreme form of over-generalization We generalize one or two qualities into a negative global judgment. These are extreme forms of generalizing and are also referred to as "labeling" and "mislabeling." Instead of describing an error in context of a specific situation, a person will attach an unhealthy label to themselves. For example, they may say, "I'm a loser" in a situation where they failed at a specific task. When someone else's behavior rubs a person the wrong way, they may attach an unhealthy label to him, such as "He's a real jerk." Mislabeling involves describing an event with language that is highly colored and emotionally loaded. For example, instead of saying someone drops her children off at daycare every day, a person who is mislabeling might say that "she abandons her children to strangers."
- PERSONALIZATION: You see yourself as the cause of some negative event which in fact, you were not primarily responsible for. You imagine that you are the sole reason why other people do what they do. Thinking that everything people do or say is some kind of reaction to us. We also compare ourselves to others trying to determine who is smarter, better looking, etc. A person sees themselves as the cause of some unhealthy external event that the were not responsible for. For example, "We were late to the dinner party and caused the hostess to overcook the meal. If I had only pushed my husband to leave on time, this wouldn't have happened."
- CONTROL FALLACIES: If we feel externally controlled, we see ourselves as helpless a victim of fate. For example, "I can't help it if the quality of the work is poor, my boss demanded I work overtime on it." The fallacy of internal control has us assuming responsibility for the pain and happiness of everyone around us. For example, "Why aren't you happy? Is it because of something I did?"
- FALLACY OF FAIRNESS: We feel resentful because we think we know what is fair, but other people won't agree with us. As our parents tell us, "Life is always fair," and people who go through life applying a measuring ruler against every situation judging its "fairness" will often feel badly and negative because of it.
- BLAMING: We hold other people responsible for our pain or take the other track and blame ourselves for every problem. For example, "Stop making me feel bad about myself" Nobody can "make" us feel any particular way - only we have control over our own emotions and emotional reactions.
- FALLACY OF CHANGE: We expect that other people will change to suit us if we just pressure or cajole them enough. We need to change people because our hopes for happiness seem to depend entirely on them changing.
- ALWAYS BEING RIGHT: We are continually on trial to prove that our opinions and actions are correct. Being wrong is unthinkable and we will go to any length to demonstrate our rightness. For example, "I don't care how badly arguing with me makes you feel, I'm going to win this argument no matter what because I'm right." Being right often is more important than the feelings of others around a person who engages in this cognitive distortion, even loved ones.
- HEAVEN’S REWARD FALLACY: We expect our sacrifice and self-denial to payoff, as if someone is keeping score. We feel bitter when the reward doesn't come.
You checked all or nothing thinking as a cognitive distortions. Try to avoid words that are categorical and use words that are more a matter of degree. For example, instead of "Trust or Not" try to indicate the degree of trust and in what areas. Use words and phrases that reflect the grey areas.
You checked Mindreading as a cognitive distortions. Try to get comfortable with phrase "Don't know." Instead of speculating what someone else is thinking, feeling, or intending replace this with "don't know." What makes Mindreading a distortion is that we aren't able to read minds so believing that we can is slightly out of sync with reality. "Why is he acting that way?" Answer: "Don't know." Don't know is most in alignment with reality.
You checked Magnification or Minimization as a cognitive distortion. One way to challenge this distortion is to add events for comparison. Rate the event on an index from 0-100. Then add other events you have actually experienced or one could experience to the scale in order to add perspective.
You checked Emotional Reasoning as a cognitive distortion. What evidence do you have that is inconsistent with the feeling? What other factors might account for the feeling?
You checked Should Statement as a cognitive distortion. Try saying what you want to say but without using the word should or any of its synonyms. The should doesn't add anything to the problem. Simply address the problems without adding the layer of should on top of the situation. "I should have studied harder." Perhaps you should have, but what do you want to do about that now, if anything. "They shouldn't be acting that way?" Perhaps they shouldn't, they are. Is there anything to be done?
You checked Labeling as a cognitive distortion. Ask yourself what is the exact definition of the label you are using. Often we use a word that has a negative connotation without thinking about the actual definition. In any case, Labeling is a distortion because it takes a person or situation which is fluid and changing and turns it into something that is permanent or static.
You checked Personalization as a cognitive distortion. What other factors might cause others to do what they do besides you being the root cause?
You checked Control Fallacies as a cognitive distortion. You only have control from the fingertips on back. If you try to control other people to regulate how you feel this will often lead to anger and frustration.
You checked Fallacy of Fairness as a cognitive distortion. Try to view the situation without measuring your opinion about its fairness. What if anything is there to be done, in spite of whether the situation is fair or not?
You checked Blaming as a cognitive distortion. Try to avoid making other people the cause of how you feel. If you say things like "You make me mad" you are putting the root cause of your feelings in the other person. You can't control other people but you can control how you react to other people. If you remind yourself that how you are looking at the situation is making you feel, then you are more in control of the reaction you have.
You checked Fallacy of Fairness as a cognitive distortion. Try to view the situation without measuring your opinion about its fairness. What if anything is there to be done, in spite of whether the situation is fair or not?
You checked Correction of Change as a cognitive distortion. Trying to change others in order to change your feelings sets you up to feel frustrated or helpless. It is trying to control something that you have no control over. Instead of thinking "I'll be happy just as soon as so-and-so changes" try to ask yourself why am I not happy even if they do not change.
You checked Always Being Right as a cognitive distortion. Try to ask yourself "do you want to be right, or be happy." Sometimes we pursue being right even at the expense of our own happiness and those around us. Ask yourself what it means to you if you are right, but others can't accept that.
You checked Heaven's Reward Fallacy as a cognitive distortion. Ask yourself why you feel bitter if your sacrifice and self-denial is not "paying off." Are you angry at some cosmic score-keeper? Are you doing things as an end of themselves or to get some "payoff." Also remind yourself that sometimes we can do everything "right" and still have a bad outcome.
Rephrase
Now try to write thoughts about the event but try to express them without the cognitive distortions. This last step is not "positive thinking" to replace "negative thinking." This steps seeks to replace distorted thinking with thoughts more in alignment with reality without the distorted filters. Don't just change the content. Change the filter. For example, don't replace negative fortune telling with positive fortune telling. Avoid fortune telling at all.
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