How does Mind over Mood help people learn to identify their own automatic thoughts?
The skill building portion of cbt consists of learning to identify, evaluate and change the thoughts associated with your depression or anxiety. Mind over mood utilizes a tool called a thought record to help people develop these skills. A thought record is sometimes compared to a psychological microscope. The reader of mind over mood learns to put their depressed and anxious experiences under this microscope. By answering a few questions about the depressed or anxious experience the reader is able to identify and separate out important components of that experience. In particular, by answering key questions on the thought record the reader learns to dissect the experience up into situational factors (who, what, where, when) from the mood and both of those as separate and distinct from the automatic thoughts. In this way the reader gets a cleaner and more thorough look at their thoughts and develops a greater appreciation of how their thoughts are affecting or determining what they feel
