3 C's of CBT reframing & some extra C's

The CBT exercise of the 3 C’s: Catch It, Check It, & Change It 

From an objective viewpoint, what was the situation or issue – what happened? __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________

Catch It  - What unpleasant or negative or difficult thoughts (and feelings) did you have related to the situation? What did you tell yourself about the issue, the other people, yourself? Does this remind you of any earlier similar situations? Could your current thoughts be influenced by this past experience?)  __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________

Check It / Challenge It - (Check the thought - Is it healthy, helpful, and realistic?) Is this thought healthy? (How does the thought make you feel?) Challenge realistic truth & validity. Is it true - all the time? How do I know?? Could there be an alternative perspective or two truths or facts to consider? 

Is this thought helpful? (How might the thought that affect your choices? It this thought helping you with your situation?) __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________

Is this thought healthy or is it hurting me or others? Is it possible there is more to consider and that the thought may reflect my own or others' insecurities or fears or anger or blame? 

__________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________

Is this thought realistic? (Is the thought completely true all of the time? Or, it is a mistake in thinking?) __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________

Change it (Consider alternative perspectives. Reframe the way you view the issue. What possibility for a more health, positive, or less upsetting thought might you come up with instead. Brainstorm alternative thoughts - something you can tell yourself instead. Do not judge the thoughts just brainstorm them) 

1.            __________________________________________________________________ 2.            __________________________________________________________________ 3.            __________________________________________________________________

Write down alternative thought #1: __________________________________________________________________ 

Is this thought…  Healthy? (How does it make you feel?) __________________________________________________________________ Helpful? (How might it affect your choices?) __________________________________________________________________ Realistic? (Is it always true? Is it a mistake in thinking?) __________________________________________________________________ 

Write down alternative thought #2: __________________________________________________________________ 

Is this thought…  Healthy? (How does it make you feel?) __________________________________________________________________ Helpful? (How might it affect your choices?) __________________________________________________________________ Realistic? (Is it always true? Is it a mistake in thinking?) __________________________________________________________________ 

Write down alternative thought #3:  __________________________________________________________________ Is this thought…  

Healthy? (How does it make you feel?) __________________________________________________________________ 

Helpful? (How might it affect your choices?) __________________________________________________________________ 

Realistic? (Is it always true? Is it a mistake in thinking?) __________________________________________________________________ 

Pick the alternative thought that is most healthy, helpful, and realistic for you. If your alternative thought is healthy, helpful, and realistic, congrats! You successfully used the 3 C’s strategy. If not, I’d encourage you to try again. 3 C’s is a skill that usually gets easier with time!   

Add in Some Extra C's - Care, Compassion, Communication, & Connection  

Care - Give yourself some tender loving care (TLC), do some self-care activities, deep-breathing, hot bath, relaxing music, gentle stretching, positive affirmations, identify and label emotions, give yourself some self-empathy for difficult to process emotions, bilateral tapping or somatic movements, guided meditations, visualization of being peaceful, nurtured, protected, informed. What could you do to care for yourself?__________________________________________________________________ Compassion - understand and try to accept some painful or difficult feelings & thoughts & the wish and plans to ameliorate your own (and likely others') pain, discomfort, or suffering What could you do to give yourself compassion?__________________________________________________________________ 

Communication - listen to your own thoughts and insights / become more aware of your own self-talk and thought patterns, learn assertive communication skills so you can express your observations, feelings, thoughts, and make requests and/or set boundaries What could you do to communicate more effectively to yourself & others? __________________________________________________________________ 

Connection - when available and appropriate, try to talk with supportive people about the challenging situation, ways that you used this and other coping skills to manage your feelings, thoughts, and action to respond to the situation. Try to remember that in general you and other people are trying to do the best given your/their coping tools, your and their known and unknown situational factors, conscious and subconscious stressors, and available useful information. What could you do to connect more with others? __________________________________________________________________

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This is a generic blog article you can use for adding blog content / subjects on your website.

You can edit all of this text and replace it with anything you have to say on your blog. You can also change the title listed above and add new blog articles as well.
Edit your Blog articles from the Pages tab by clicking the edit button.

This is a generic blog article you can use for adding blog content / subjects on your website.
You can edit all of this text and replace it with anything you have to say on your blog. You can also change the title listed above and add new blog articles as well.

Edit your Blog articles from the Pages tab by clicking the edit button.