Boost Your Mood

Week 4

Let’s Talk Course

Week 4

• Feedback from weekly tasks• CBT Model• Introducing thought diaries• Thinking styles• Relaxation

Feedback from Weekly TasksIn small groups…

• How did you find the weekly tasks?Behavioural activation sheet and time

management and assertiveness strategies

• Any comments or questions?

Thoughts

Mood

Behaviours

PhysicalReactions

Trigger Situation

• Walking through the town centre you notice a friend on the other side of the road.

• You wave to them but you get no response from your friend.

She must be angry with me. What have I done

wrong?

Confused, sad, upset

Do not walk over to talk to her. Do not ring her.

Sweaty palms, uneasy feeling in stomach

Thoughts

Mood

Behaviours

Physical Reactions

Small Group Exercise

In small groups discuss:• What alternative explanations can you think of

why your friend did not respond to you waving to her?

• What consequences would this explanation have on your– mood– physical reactions– behaviour

Feedback to Large Group

• How was it for each of you to think of alternative explanations?

• How different were the consequences?

Thought diary monitoringSTEP ONE…

Each time you feel sad, depressed or irritable…• Write down in the first column a brief description of the

situation where the thought occurred.

• Then in the second column write down the Emotion (feeling).

• Third column write down the rating of the emotion (feeling) 1…100%

• Fourth column write down your thought.

Thought Diary 1What happened

(Trigger Situation) Emotion

(one word)

Emotion rating

(1-100) Thoughts

Unhelpful Thinking Styles• There are a number of well known unhelpful thinking

styles, the most common ones are:

• Black-and-White Thinking• Catastrophising• Discounting the Positive• Emotional Reasoning• Labelling• Mental Filter

• Mind Reading• Fortune Telling• Overgeneralisation• Personalisation• “Should” and “must”

statements

Unhelpful Thoughts

• Rather than buying in to your unhelpful thoughts mindfulness can help you work with your thoughts in a different way

An Introduction to Mindfulness

• “Mindfulness means paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgementally”

(Jon Kabat-Zinn)• Therefore, mindfulness is not a relaxation technique as such

but a way of being in the moment, in the here and now

• Mindfulness has been proven to be an effective way of preventing relapse for patients after they recovered from an episode of experiencing low mood

How is that possible?

Episode

of low mood

(learned negative way of thinking)

Potential Relapse

Low mood

(negative way of thinking

reactivated)

MINDFULNESSUsing awareness of all

experience helps recognising negative thinking patterns

early on

NO RELAPSE

NO MINDFULNESS

No awareness of negative way of thinking

RELAPSE

An Introduction to MindfulnessWhat we usually do

(in the REACTING MODE)Doing what we’ve always done

Mindfulness(in the NOTICING MODE)

Striving Non-Striving

Avoidance Approach

Thoughts seen as reality Thoughts seen as merely thoughts

Focus on the past/future Focus on the present

Indirect experience Direct experience (reality)

Automatic Intentional (choice)

M i n d f u l n e s s E x e r c i s e

Mindfulness Exercise

• Choose 1 routine activity, such as eating or showering, and notice what goes on in your mind whilst doing it, gently bring your focus back on the task

Week 4 Summary

• CBT Model• Introducing thought diaries• Thinking styles• Relaxation

Weekly Tasks

• Review your SMART goals

• Continue practising behavioural activation

• Continue monitoring your thoughts

• Practise the mindfulness exercise