I Have a What? A Guide for Coping with Moderate-to-Severe TBI

I Have a What?!:A Guide for Coping with Moderate-to-Severe TBIChanging how you think about things doesn’t mean you shouldjust “think positive.” Sometimes, it is perfectly appropriate to feelsad or angry or anxious or upset. However, sometimes we canmake ourselves feel badly by telling ourselves things that are notactually true. Nearly everyone has times where they cause themselvesto have a negative mood by thinking something that isn’tactually true.Steps to help you change the way you think:1. One of the first steps to changing our thinking is to notice what we are thinkingwhen we have a negative emotion. You can do this by writing down what you arethinking to yourself on a piece of paper. Write down what the situation is, what youare thinking or saying to yourself, and how you feel. You can call this your “ThoughtJournal.” [See the example below.]Date Situation Thought Feeling02/20/2008At my doctor’s office.She was 30 minuteslate for my appointment.She doesn’t careabout me. She juststacks her scheduleso she can make moremoney.Angry,Resentful02/21/2008Working late at theoffice.I’m never going to getthis done. People willthink I’m a failure.Anxious,upset2. Another step to helping you change the way you think (and how you feel) is to learnto recognize ways that you “twist” your thinking. These “twisted” ways of thinking(called thought distortions) are all pretty common. The following table describessome of the many ways in which our thinking can become distorted.Page 70