Books on Prescription 2

I'm not sure how much of my own direct experience of CBT to share here. I want readers to have the opportunity to see the process of engaging with CBT from the inside, but maybe my more personal insights need to remain undisclosed ? Bear with me whilst I figure out how much and what types of information to share.


I've now read Chapter Two of Melanie Fennell's book. I've made copious notes from this chapter, as it is far more meaty than Chapter One. In this chapter the underpinning theories and principles of CBT are presented, along with numerous case studies. All this allows you to start to relate the text to your personal experiences and to understand what has happened in your instance.

There are a few quotes I want to share at this stage:

There is nothing shameful about seeking psychological help" (Fennell, 2009:22)

"Your view of yourself...is an opinion, not a fact" (Fennell, 2009:32)

"...beliefs about ourselves are all learned" (Fennell, 2009:34)

"...well established reaction patterns prevent you from changing your opinion of yourself". (Fennell, 2009:34)

Summarising, what I've learnt from Chapters One and Two of Fennell's book is this:

1. What we have come to believe about ourselves and about our 'lot in life' has accrued over time. It's an opinion, an often skew-wiff view, built on biased and prejudicial information; when you have an inclination to low self-esteem you place greater negative weight on your experiences in life and discount or discolour a lot of the positives.

2. We have developed a 'Bottom Line' - a 2. statement we believe to be true about ourselves, for example, 'I am unacceptable'.

3. We base our strategies for surviving life on this 'Bottom Line' and thse become out 'Rules for Living', for example 'unless I behave in this manner I will be rejected'.

4. There is a cycle in operation here. Our 'Bottom Line' dictates our actions via our 'Rules for Living'. We 'edit' and 'filter' our experiences to support our 'Bottom Line'.

It is maintained and, indeed, strengthened by systematic biases in thinking, which make it easier for you to notice and give weight to anything that is consistent with it, while encouraging you to screen out and discount anything that is not" (Fennell, 2009:52)

"Because you basic beliefs about yourself are negative, you anticioate that events will turn out in a negative way...The anticipation makes you sensitive to any sign that things are indeed turning out as you predicted" (Fennell, 2009:54)

I strongly recommend the following text:

Fennell, M., (2009), Overcoming Low Self-Esteem: A self-help guide using Cognitive Behavioural Techniques