Cognitive therapy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Cognitive therapy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: "The four column technique

A major technique in cognitive therapy is the four column technique. The first three steps analyze the process by which a person has become depressed or distressed. The fourth step reframes the experience in the person's mind.

* A - Activating Event or objective situation. The first column records the objective situation, by which they mean an event that ultimately leads to some type of high emotional response or negative dysfunctional thinking.

* B - Beliefs. In the second column, the client writes down the negative thoughts which occurred to them.

* C - Consequence. The third column is for the negative feelings and dysfunctional behaviours that ensued. The negative thoughts of the second column are seen as a connecting bridge between the situation and the distressing feelings. The third column C is next explained by describing emotions or negative thoughts that the client thinks are caused by A. This could be anger, sorrow, anxiety, etc. The therapist at this point picks a sample situation like getting a 80 out of a 100 on an English test. Some would feel good at having that grade and others would be sad or angry or depressed not to have done better Therefore the A could not have caused C because all the C's would be the same. At that point B is introduced (B for Beliefs)and explained that our thinking, from column B, is our interpretation of what happened in column A. Our thinking about the event in column A causes C, not the event in column A.

* Reframing. Finally, the fourth column is used for challenging the negative thoughts on the basis of evidence from the client's experience by reframing it, meaning to re-interpret it in a positive light. The last column is where the client writes a more healthy way to interpret column A."