Yesterday, I mentioned having an epiphany off the back of Talking Therapies.
If you've done any CBT or talking therapy, you're likely aware of the "courtroom" technique in which you challenge negative thoughts by objectively examining the evidence for and against as though in court listening to the arguments of prosecution and defence. It's surprisingly simple but something I hadn't come across before — even during my first lot of therapy
I've often struggled to distinguish between negative emotions, they get conflated in my mind and I have often defaulted to depression as my go-to mental state. Whatever's going on, it's because I'm depressed.
Obviously, that's not always the case but I didn't have the mental tools to deal with it. Back to the courtroom.
I suddenly realised that I could use the technique to examine my emotions rather than my thoughts; objectively look at why I was feeling a bit low or down etc. Why am I feeling this way? Am I really depressed, or frustrated, or just bored out of my mind. This approach is helping me to respond quicker to a drop in mood, better understand it, and do something about it.
