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Coping With Depression 2024 5

The document discusses using Socratic questioning to evaluate negative automatic thoughts in a more reasonable way. It provides examples of questions to ask oneself, such as considering evidence a thought may not be completely true or looking at a situation from another perspective, to develop more helpful responses and experience life more realistically.

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Esqandar Ibnu Zoelkarnaen
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26 views1 page

Coping With Depression 2024 5

The document discusses using Socratic questioning to evaluate negative automatic thoughts in a more reasonable way. It provides examples of questions to ask oneself, such as considering evidence a thought may not be completely true or looking at a situation from another perspective, to develop more helpful responses and experience life more realistically.

Uploaded by

Esqandar Ibnu Zoelkarnaen
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

“Something is wrong.” You might feel anxious.

Once you understand what you are thinking,


how you feel makes sense.

SOCRATIC QUESTIONING

To expand on the skill of asking yourself


“What was just going through my mind?”
when you recognize that you’re feeling sad
or distressed or doing something unhelpful,
there are additional, Socratic Questions
you can ask. These questions will help you
evaluate your negative automatic thoughts in
a more reasonable, balanced way and develop
responses that are more helpful. First ask
yourself:

“What was just going through my


mind?”

Then ask:

1. What makes me think this thought is true?


Is there any evidence it might not be true,
or not completely true?
2. Is there another way of looking at this
situation?
In thinking about an event that upset you,
3. If the worst happens, what could I do?
consider:
What’s the best that could happen? What is
most likely to happen?
• the situation;
4. What’s the effect of believing this thought?
• what you were thinking; and
What could happen if I changed my
• how you felt emotionally.
thinking?
5. What would I tell my friend [think of
We suggest this as most people are generally
a specific person] if they were in this
only aware of how they feel in a situation. For
situation and had this thought?
example, suppose you texted a close friend
6. What can I do about this now?
several hours ago and they didn’t text back. You
might have the automatic thought, “They don’t
By answering these questions with more
want to spend time with me anymore.” This
reasonable, balanced responses, you may find
thought would likely lead you to feel sad and
that you ae experiencing life more realistically
dejected. Now, imagine you had the thought,
and beginning to feel a little better.

B EC K I N S T I T U T E .O RG

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