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Coping with Stress and CBT


Dealing with stress is a difficulty of a lifetime. More accurately, dealing with distress is a difficulty of a lifetime. The distinction is important for a few reasons.
First, stress is actually vital to our survival. Similar to sugar, it is a necessary commodity that is viewed, in modern times at least, as hazardous to our health. In a Nutrition class that I took, we learned that sugar isn’t bad for you, too much of ANYTHING is bad for you. In this way, we clarify that stress is a type of pressure, while distress is distinguished as any stress that exceeds the level of optimal achievement in life.
That being said, learning how to cope with distress can be a challenge. There are several ways to do so, including learning how to implement that distress into mere stress, which can be an efficient method for productivity.
In the ABCX model, distress over a situation can be clearly exemplified.
In that model, “A” stands for “Actual Event.” This is the trigger that warrants distress, and could be any number of things, including expected or unexpected disasters, or even just something long term, such as a mental illness.
“B” stands for “Both: Resources and Response.” This covers both what materials and assistance one has on hand to help them to cope, as well as how they use those resources. Someone with all of the right materials that doesn’t use them is no better off than someone who doesn’t have the resources at all. Response is the first variable that is under the control of the focus of the equation, the subject of the event, per se.
“C” stands for “Cognition.” In other words, how one perceives the situation and event. This is almost completely under the direct control of the subject. Madness, after all, can change one’s perceptions of the world to a nearly unrecognizable state.
All of these add up to the X, or “Xperience” (Get it?). Note that the total experience is not determined, in total, by things that are outside of the control of the subject. Such an assumption would violate the agency of the subject, and ultimately label them a victim of their circumstances. Alas, this happens all too often in the world today, and levels of despair and depression have never been higher.
This is most effectively generally addressed by the psychological technique of CBT, or Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. Using this technique, one primarily focuses on the use of Response and Cognition to change the total experience, with an inordinately high success rate.
In changing one’s perceptions and reactions to the unchanging resources and events, one can change much of the overcharging and ultimately unhelpful distress into a much more manageable type and quantity of stress. In short, much misery can be eliminated and eradicated.
While this style may not be suited for all, nearly everyone can incorporate most of the principles involved. The system begins by asking about a specific event that has occurred. After the event has been recorded, the subject is asked about their emotions regarding the topic. They are then requested to rate their negative emotions on a scale, generally from 1 to 100.
After that is finished, they are asked to list some thoughts that they had during the experience that assisted in the devastating emotions. When they have done that, they rate their current amount of belief in that particular statement. This continues until several thoughts have been listed, which are then put under scrutiny by whether or not they commit any of the following logical fallacies:
All-or-Nothing Thinking / Polarized Thinking.
Overgeneralization.
Mental Filter.
Disqualifying the Positive.
Jumping to Conclusions – Mind Reading.
Jumping to Conclusions – Fortune Telling.
Magnification (Catastrophizing) or Minimization.
Emotional Reasoning
Should/Must Statements;
Labeling;
Personalization
After being judged through these criteria, the subject is asked to make a new, more accurate statement about the affairs of the world than the original thought. After doing, so the subject is asked to again rate their belief in the old thought.

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