Dealing with troubled emotions
Most important part in the chain of emotional causation has been left out yourself! In order to experience an emotional reaction to an event, you first have to evaluate the personal experience of that event. A - activating event: end of relationship B - beliefs or thoughts: without her, I'm worthless without him or her C - emotional and behavioral consequences: depression and withdraw from social activities You may say that A caused C when really in CBT language this is called A-C thinking (events cause our emotions). This viewpoint overlooks individual variations of the same event which is not uncommon. Not everyone feels depressed about the end of a relationship one person is anxious about coping alone, another is angry which is normal. In order to understand C you need to focus on B not A this is called B-C thinking our beliefs and thoughts at B ultimately determine how you feel at C. To choose one's attitude in any given situation or circumstances to cope with adve...