A Practical Guide to CBT for Work A Practical Guide to CBT for Work E-Book

Gill Garratt

• Herausgeber: Icon Books
• Kategorie: Ratgeber
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 195

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2012

Beschreibung

Maximize your happiness in the workplace.  Stop negative thinking and tackle your problems at work using Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). Learn to control anger and frustration, reduce workplace anxiety and take control of your work-life balance by introducing CBT's insights into your working day.   Full of real-life examples and useful exercises, this Practical Guide will help you to replace feelings of inadequacy and a lack of motivation with new ways of thinking, to help you work better with others, and make you happier and more effective in the workplace.

Leseprobe

First published in the UK in 2012

by Icon Books Ltd,

Omnibus Business Centre, 39–41 North Road, London N7 9DP

email: [email protected]

www.iconbooks.net

This electronic edition published in the UK in 2012 by Icon Books Ltd

ISBN: 978-184831-435-1 (ePub format)

ISBN: 978-184831-435-3 (Adobe eBook format)

Text copyright © 2012 Gill Garratt

The author has asserted her moral rights.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, or by any means, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.

Typeset in Avenir by Marie Doherty

About the author

Gill Garratt is a nationally accredited psychotherapist who specializes in using Cognitive Behavioural Therapy in the workplace. She has 20 years’ experience in the public and private sectors, in the UK and internationally. She has used CBT in settings such as the manufacturing industry, global financial organizations and the education sector, as well as in central UK government departments, prisons and even cruise ships. Her particular interest is in positive psychology; using skills and strategies to enhance everyday living and to find a healthy balance between work and life. She has written and delivered courses on the ‘Science of Happiness at Work’.

Author’s note

It’s important to note that there is much frequently-used research employed in cognitive behavioural therapy­. Where I have known the source I have been sure to reference it, but my apologies here to the originators of any material if I have overlooked them.

Dedication

To the hundreds of individuals I have had the privilege of working with in my role as teacher, psychologist and psychotherapist. I have been privy to sharing some of their innermost struggles and difficulties, their triumphs and successes. Their bravery in coming forward to want to make some sense of their lives and gain insight, to be open to new ways of thinking is a testimony to their hard work and commitment. For the tensions, tears, anxieties, and worries we have worked through, I dedicate this book to your determination and authenticity. For the laughter we have shared as insights are gained and life is put into a new perspective.

To all the researchers, academics, writers, philosophers, health care professionals and educationalists, whose common aim is to help others to maximize their wellbeing, health and happiness.

I have listened to many moving life stories, anecdotes and personal journeys. I truly believe a person has the inner resources to be able to flourish in life. Sometimes, we can do with some help along the way. If you can take away some helpful information, strategies, techniques and insights from this book, then I will have achieved a goal too.

I have been fortunate to be able to study and learn from great teachers, colleagues, friends and family over the years. My goal has been to share some of this with you.

Thank you to all those whose work I have drawn upon, whose lives I have shared.

A man is but the product of his thoughts, what he thinks, he becomes.

Mahatma Ghandi

Gill Garratt, November 2012

Contents

Title page

Copyright information

About the author

Author’s note

Dedication

Introduction

1. The CBT Think Kit

2. You and your work

3. Anxiety at work

4. Anger and frustration at work

5. CBT for guilt at work

6. Depression at work

7. CBT for low self-esteem at work

8. Maximizing your happiness at work

9. Balancing work and life

10. And … relax

Different types of therapies

Resources

Index

Introduction

What is Cognitive Behavioural Therapy or CBT?

Men are disturbed not by things but by the views which they take of them.

Epictetus

Having picked this book up you may already have heard a little about Cognitive Behavioural Therapy. CBT has become very popular in the 21st century, with research showing that it is a very effective form of therapy for helping with many psychological struggles. It can help reduce anxiety, depression, anger, guilt, low self-esteem, phobias, obsessive behaviour, panic attacks, traumatic stress disorder and many other conditions of emotional upset. More and more integrated healthcare systems are using CBT to help people deal with everyday struggles.

CBT stands for:

Cognitive – thinking

Behavioural – behaviour

Therapy – change

CBT is about how changing your thinking can help you to tackle and overcome any negative behaviours or habits that you may have, which are getting in the way of you leading a happy life. We all have the ability to wind ourselves up with our thinking, and sometimes you may get stuck in ‘thinking loops’ that are unhelpful – letting the same cycle of negative thoughts go round and round in your head.

But we don’t need to be slaves to this. If you realize that you are stuck in problematic thinking loops that are upsetting you or making your life more difficult, it is possible to stop and work them out. There are practical techniques you can learn in order to make conscious choices to change that thinking. This book will help you recognize when life is getting tough for you and provide you with practical strategies to stop things escalating and getting out of control.

The title of this book is CBT for Work, and so it will concentrate in particular on showing how CBT can help you reduce the time you spend worrying about work and work-related circumstances. Many of us work in hectic, high-pressure environments, and find that the changing demands of our job are a frequent source of hassle and stress. Of course it is natural to have a healthy concern about your work performance, job prospects and career, but it is not in your best interests to worry yourself so much that you make yourself ill. It is important to find a balance between having a healthy commitment to your work and suffering from overriding anxiety as a result of being over-invested in it.

CBT also looks at resilience. We can all expect to go through some difficult patches in life – it’s unavoidable. Although CBT can help you to change negative thinking into more positive thinking, it does stress that sometimes we need to go through discomfort zones in order to progress in life. CBT can help increase your ability to tolerate the tough times without freezing with fear or crumpling under the pressures. As Winston Churchill famously said: ‘When you are going through hell, keep going.’

CBT can be used with emotional struggles of differing intensities, but in all cases the same basic techniques apply. Depending on the level of distress, CBT in conjunction with medicine may be recommended by doctors. This combination has been found to be highly effective for treating anxiety and depression. This book is certainly not intended to take the place of proper medical attention, and if you become truly worried about your ability to cope with a situation you should visit your doctor immediately. However, if you have some knowledge and understanding of CBT you will find that in many situations you are able to help yourself. CBT has been widely researched and tested, many scientific papers have been published and it is the preferred choice of many health organizations worldwide. It is an effective tool for dealing with the pressures of a modern working environment and if you learn to use it you will not only be happier but also, as a result of not being dogged by constant worries, a more effective employee.

This book will include:

Where CBT came fromHow to recognize if you are getting stressedYour CBT ‘Think Kit’, a practical toolkit to teach you the basic ABC of CBTYou and your WorkCommon problems in the workplace – anxiety, anger, guilt, depression, low self-esteemHow to use your CBT ‘Think Kit’ for workMaximizing your happiness at workBalancing work and lifeTaking CBT further

Where did CBT come from?

There are many other types of therapy besides CBT that have evolved over the 20th century. As the study of psychology has become more popular many different methods for treating emotional difficulties have been put forward. This can sometimes be rather confusing. Before we start looking at the practical applications of CBT it is probably a good idea to explain how it was developed, in order to place it in context. What follows is a (necessarily very brief) history of therapy.

Freud (1856–1939) was a medical doctor, and one of the first scientists to become interested in studying human behaviour. He realized that some of his patients were showing signs of illness without an obvious physical cause and began to direct his attention to the study of the mind. He started to study human emotional development and concluded that some people may not develop in healthy ways, and that this could affect them for the rest of their lives. When people struggled, and perhaps exhibited ‘hysterical’, ‘repressed’ or ‘displacement’ behaviours, he thought it was a symptom of deeper unresolved problems. Freud recommended analysis of their childhood development to find where the blockages had occurred. This technique was called ‘psychoanalysis’. His theories and treatments had a huge impact on society at the time and have continued to greatly influence psychology as well as permeating many aspects of culture including art and literature.

Behaviour therapy developed when other psychologists in history wanted to learn more about the mechanisms of behaviour. A Russian psychologist called Pavlov (1849–1936) discovered that if he rang a bell when he gave food to a dog on enough occasions, eventually the dog would salivate in anticipation of getting food when it heard the bell, even if no food accompanied it. He called this a ‘conditioned reflex’. This knowledge has since been used in all sorts of situations to reinforce behaviours in humans too. If humans are rewarded with praise or ‘treats’ they are likely to repeat the behaviour they have been rewarded for. If we are rewarded with a bonus for being more productive at work, we are likely to want to repeat that behaviour. This is called positive reinforcement. On the flipside, it is theoretically also possible to use punishment in order to eliminate behaviour which is seen as unacceptable, though if we are applying that to the world of work it seems a rather scary management style!

In short, then, the aim of this kind of therapy is to change the behaviour of the subject (the clue is in the name!). It was then used for the treatment of people who suffered from ‘disorders’ of the mind, to train them to behave in more acceptable ways. An interesting point to note about treating people in this way is that although the treatment may often have changed their behaviour, it did not necessarily seem to get to the origin of their difficulties. That is to say, subjects treated with behaviour therapy do get into new habits of behaviour, but without really thinking about it.

Cognitive therapy was the next stage in considering human behaviour. In the 1940s there was a lot of interest in trying to understand the motivation behind people’s behaviours – something that was arguably lacking from behaviour therapy. It was noticed that although you could train people to behave differently, some continued to experience ‘disorders’ or to revert to previous problematic patterns of behaviour after a time.

Depression and anxiety were two areas of particular interest. A pioneer in this area was a psychoanalyst called Dr Aaron Beck, who noticed that his depressed patients seemed to think in similar ways. This included thinking negatively about themselves, the world in general and about their futures – they seemed to have got into the habit of thinking negatively. In the 1960s he started therapy programmes to help patients to identify their negative thoughts, to recognize that their thinking patterns had become ‘distorted’ from reality and to help them challenge these errors in their thinking.

While some attention was paid to the individual’s past, in order to see how they could have got into these negative thinking patterns, the main emphasis was on working in the present. The person’s thinking, or ‘beliefs’, about themselves, the world or their hopeless future could be challenged by working with their therapist. This could be the start of them breaking their cycles of repetitive, automatic, negative thinking and replacing them with more positive thinking. The more we think we are useless and avoid activities which we fear could confirm this negative view of ourselves, the more we seem to prove the validity of that view – we ensure that we ‘fail’ by never letting ourselves try. This causes us to perpetuate depression or escalate anxiety. We can get carried away with our negative thinking and ‘catastrophize’ what will happen in the future. By interacting with a cognitive therapist, the habit of negative thinking could be broken and feelings of anxiety and depression could be reduced.

Cognitive Behavioural Therapy wasdeveloped from the Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy, first proposed in 1955 by Dr Albert Ellis (1913–2007). This combination therapy integrated the findings from behaviour therapy and cognitive therapy, working on the basis that our thinking, our physical states and our behaviours all interact. Mind and body influence each other, and our behaviour is the result of our thinking and our constantly changing body chemistry. The way we think affects what goes on in our bodies. For example, if you suddenly have anxious thoughts, your body reacts by releasing higher quantities of particular hormones into your blood stream, which in turn affect the way you feel and so your behaviour. Here is a brief summary of how CBT works:

Your thinking is the result of how you view yourself, the world and your future. You may think negatively at times, and may interpret threats in your world.When you think you are threatened, your body will react. These changes in your body will in turn affect the way you feel, and so your behaviour. All of this will seem to reinforce the validity of the negative thinking that started the process, trapping you in an unhelpful thinking loop which will lead to further negative feelings and behaviour … and so it goes on.You probably can’t change whatever it is that is going on in your world which you perceive as a threat, at least not straight away. But you can change the way you think about yourself, the world and the future.If you change the way you think, you will change the way you feel, and change the way you behave. You can break the unhelpful thinking loop.CBT can help you work out what you are feeling.CBT can help you work out what is triggering upsetting feelings.CBT can help you work out your thinking.CBT gives you choices and practical strategies to change your thinking and so reduce upset.

This book is a practical guide to CBT techniques that can be used to help you work your way through difficulties in your life, particularly with regard to work. We will look first at identifying when you are in difficulty and what in particular is problematic, after which you can begin to use the CBT Think Kit to help reduce your unhelpful thinking. The CBT Think Kit is explained in the next chapter. It gives you a simple, logical way to help you work through tough times and uncomfortable feelings. It puts you in control – you make the choices to decide to help yourself to a calmer state.

This book will use plenty of examples to show you how the Think Kit can be used. These examples will be related to problems commonly experienced at work. You will also be given opportunities to use your own experiences and apply the CBT Think Kit to them. The more you practise CBT, the easier it becomes.

CBT is for Life, not just for crises.

Important note

This book will look at the everyday problems and upsets in our working lives. It is important that you always consult your doctor if your negative feelings persist for a significant length of time. We will concentrate on the most commonly occurring negative feelings – things which are moderately upsetting, everyday stresses. If you start to feel overwhelmed, or recognize that you are experiencing extremes of the symptoms listed in the next chapter, it is essential to contact a health professional. It can be helpful to write down what has been happening, and perhaps to take a friend along too – when we are feeling distressed it can sometimes be hard to explain things to a doctor without becoming upset. This book will help you see that it is natural to become upset sometimes in our lives, and that this is nothing to be ashamed of. It will show you how to recognize the symptoms and do something about them before they spiral out of control.

The key points

CBT is just one form of psychological therapyDifferent therapies stem from different psychological theoriesPsychoanalysis, Behavioural Therapy and Cognitive Therapy are just three of many CBT is becoming increasingly popularCBT is a practical therapyYou can learn some CBT basics and help yourself to reduce upsetting feelings and enhance positive feelingsYou can carry your own CBT Toolkit with you to make adjustments to your emotional wellbeingYou can use your toolkit at work and for your personal life

1. The CBT Think Kit

Big jobs usually go to the men who prove their ability to outgrow the small ones.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

The more you understand about yourself and how you think, the more power you will have to change the way you live. And by using the systems of CBT you are giving yourself the advantage of years of research done by other people; specialists who have devoted their lives to understanding more about how we work. You don’t need to be a trained mechanic in order to be able to drive a car – though some basic knowledge of how an engine works is very helpful – but you do still need to be taught. In exactly the same way, you don’t need to know all about every piece of research into CBT that has been done in order to be able to utilize it in your own life. But you do still need to be taught.

Now that the introduction has equipped you with a basic knowledge of the theory behind CBT it’s time to get in the metaphorical driving seat and have a look at how it can work in practice. We will now look at a simple technique which will help you to work out the links between particular thoughts and your feeling upset, and which will show you how to tackle the problem. I call it the CBT Think Kit and have used it with many clients to solve issues in both their personal and professional lives.

It is a practical toolkit that can help you work out your difficulties and take action to reduce them. It includes an A, B, C, framework to work with, which will hopefully make things easier to remember:

A is the actual situation that gives rise to the thinking.

B is the belief you may hold about the situation you experience

C is the consequence of you hanging on to those beliefs. The consequences can be feelings and behaviours.

Suppose you have been sent on an important business trip and because of a problem with your train, you arrive at the airport late. Then, to make matters worse, there is a situation (A) at the check-in desk – someone jumps the queue in front of you. As a consequence (C) you may feel angry about that. But CBT encourages you to realize that it is not actually the person jumping the queue (A) that is making you angry. There is a B that comes between A and C. In fact, it is your beliefs (B) about how the world should be fair which are at the root of your anger. The person behind you may not be at all bothered about the person jumping the queue. He or she may view the situation differently and so also feel differently – they may be quite calm, perhaps irritated but certainly not angry. Your thoughts will trigger your feelings of anger and resentment. It is not actually the personjumping the queue that is causing your anger. It is more your view about how people should behave …

In this situation the big question is: how is it helping youto keep thinking like that?

You don’t have to upset yourself. Although you feel very strongly about fairness and justice, sometimes it may not be in your own best interests in a particular situation if you allow such beliefs and get into a state of anxiety or unhappiness. True, perhaps it would be appropriate to step in and ask the person to take their proper place in the queue, but if you do not want or are unable to do this then getting worked up is unproductive.

People seem to be very good at beating themselves up. You are often your own harshest critic.

People are upset not by the things that happen to them, or by the actions and behaviours of other people, but by the opinion that they come to have about it all. No one else upsets you; you do it to yourself.

The importance of your thinking

Your thinking is reflected in how you behave. If you are worried about something, you tend to think about it a lot. You can make yourself anxious or upset and this may show in your behaviour. You may become clumsy, feel hot and sweaty, appear tearful, get annoyed with others, or sulk. As a result you may make mistakes or rash decisions, or else alienate people. You may find yourself suffering from disturbed sleep patterns, changing your eating and drinking habits, and generally not feeling yourself.

It’s not difficult to see that as well as being unpleasant for you to have to experience this kind of thing in itself, it is also likely to be detrimental to your work. By tackling negative thoughts and beliefs head on you are also giving yourself the best conditions to perform well in your job. In cases where your beliefs and anxieties relate to not being good enough at your job, that’s killing two birds with one stone!

A consciousness of wrongdoing is the first step to salvation … you have to catch yourself doing it before you can correct it.

Seneca

Think of something that ‘made’ you feel anxious recently at work. It could be having a disagreement with a colleague, being late for a meeting, losing an important document, going for a job interview, or over-spending on a project. Think about it for a few seconds and try to picture the situation in as much detail as possible. How did it feel? You may even experience some of those flutters of anxiety again just from recalling it.

On a scale of 1–5, how anxious did you feel then?

1 stands for slightly concerned, 2 irritated, 3 annoyed, 4 agitated and 5 anxious.