The Addiction Recovery Skills Workbook by Suzette Glasner-Edwards

Author:Suzette Glasner-Edwards
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: SEL026000 Self-help / Substance Abuse & Addictions / General
Publisher: New Harbinger Publications

Discounting the Positive

Red Flag Thought

My boss only said something nice to me out of pity.

I’m pathetic. I have nothing to lose by drinking.

Now, try writing down one or more examples of thoughts you’ve had that discount the positive. Then, write down the red flag thoughts they can lead to.

Thoughts that discount the positive:

Red flag thoughts:

Jumping to Conclusions

If you tend to jump to conclusions, you are doing one of two things: You are either mind reading or fortune telling. If you are a mind reader, then you assume that other people’s behavior toward you reflects something negative about how they feel about you. You make these interpretations with very little or no factual information. For example, if you are with a friend who is not being especially talkative, rather than assuming that your friend might be having a bad day, or might have something on her mind, you think, She’s not talking to me because she doesn’t like me. That is one form of jumping to conclusions.

If you fall into a habit of fortune telling, then you predict that things will turn out badly for you. The way you see things, there is doom and gloom waiting for you around the corner; that is your ultimate fate. Scott did some fortune telling after his boss gave him the negative feedback; he predicted that he would get fired, even though his boss did not say that he was on the road to losing his job. Although getting written up at work obviously isn’t a positive, it is also not a sure path to getting fired. When you are fortune telling, you go straight to the worst-case scenario without considering the other possible outcomes.

Let’s look at a couple of examples of how jumping to conclusions can bring on red flag thoughts. You’ll notice that in the first example below, the red flag thought is one that is triggered by interpersonal conflict; sometimes you may feel like retaliating against someone who has upset you, by drinking or using. Make a mental note of it or write down an example in the exercise below if this is a pattern of thinking you have experienced before. In steps 4 through 7, you will learn how to cope with interpersonal conflict in a healthier way.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.