Question

How can you identify your irrational beliefs? Discuss assessment and research in Beck's theory.

Answer 1

Irrational beliefs are:

• Messages about life we send to ourselves that keep us from growing emotionally.
• Scripts we have in our head about how we believe life “should” be for us and for others.
• Unfounded attitudes, opinions, and values we hold to that are out of synchrony with the way the world really is.
• Negative sets of habitual responses we hold to when faced with stressful events or situations.
• Stereotypic ways of problem solving we fall into in order to deal with life’s pressures.
• Ideas, feelings, beliefs, ways of thinking, attitudes, opinions, biases, prejudices, or values with which we were raised. We have become accustomed to using them when faced with problems in our current life, even when they are not productive in helping us reach a positive, growth-enhancing solution.
• Self-defeating ways of acting. On the surface they may look appropriate for the occasion, but actually they result in a neutral or negative consequence for us.
• Habitual ways of thinking, feeling, or acting that we think are effective; however, in the long run they are ineffectual.
• Counterproductive ways of thinking, which give comfort and security in the short run, but either do not resolve or actually exacerbate the problem in the long run.
• Negative or pessimistic ways of looking at necessary life experiences such as loss, conflict, risk taking, rejection, or accepting change.
• Overly optimistic or idealistic ways of looking at necessary life experiences such as loss, conflict, risk taking, rejection, or accepting change.
• Emotional arguments for taking or not taking action in the face of a challenge. When followed they result in no personal gain, but rather in greater personal hardship or loss.
• Patterns of thinking that make us appear to others as stubborn, bullheaded, intemperate, argumentative, or aloof.
• Ways of thinking about ourselves that are out of context with the real facts, resulting in our either under-valuing or over-valuing ourselves.
• Means by which we become confused about the intentions of others when we are enmeshed in interpersonal problems with them.
• Lifelong messages sent to us either formally or informally by: society, culture, community, race, ethnic reference group, neighborhood, church, social networks, family, relatives, peer group, school, work, or parents. They are unproductive in solving our current problem or crisis, but we are either unwilling or unable to let go of them. These messages can be very clear to us or they can be hidden in our subconscious.
• Conclusions about life that we have developed over time, living in an irrational environment not identified as being irrational (e.g., beliefs developed as a member of a high-stress family).
• Standards by which we were reared and from which we learned how to act, what to believe, and how to express or experience feelings. When followed, however, these standards do not result in a satisfactory resolution of our current problems.
• Ritualistic ways by which we pursue our relationships with others, resulting in nonproductive relationships and increased emotional stress.
• Outmoded, unproductive, unrealistic expectations exacted on ourselves and/or others, guaranteed to be unattainable and to result in continuing negative self-concepts.

Becks theory:

One major cognitive theorist is Aaron Beck. He studied people suffering from depression and found that they appraised events in a negative way.

Beck (1967) identified three mechanisms that he thought were responsible for depression:

1. The cognitive triad (of negative automatic thinking)
2. Negative self schemas
3. Errors in Logic (i.e. faulty information processing)

The cognitive triad are three forms of negative (i.e. helpless and critical) thinking that are typical of individuals with depression: namely negative thoughts about the self, the world and the future. These thoughts tended to be automatic in depressed people as they occurred spontaneously.

For example, depressed individuals tend to view themselves as helpless, worthless, and inadequate. They interpret events in the world in a unrealistically negative and defeatist way, and they see the world as posing obstacles that can’t be handled. Finally, they see the future as totally hopeless because their worthlessness will prevent their situation improving.

As these three components interact, they interfere with normal cognitive processing, leading to impairments in perception, memory and problem solving with the person becoming obsessed with negative thoughts.

Beck believed that depression prone individuals develop a negative self-schema. They possess a set of beliefs and expectations about themselves that are essentially negative and pessimistic. Beck claimed that negative schemas may be acquired in childhood as a result of a traumatic event. Experiences that might contribute to negative schemas include:

• Death of a parent or sibling.
• Parental rejection, criticism, overprotection, neglect or abuse.
• Bullying at school or exclusion from peer group

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