Yeah - therapists definitely feel that they're helping us out by pointing out our cognitive errors. And I get it, that we need to become aware of these things if our lives are to change at all. For instance, there are so many things that are simply OUT OF my control. I can't do ANYTHING about these things, except - change how I respond to them. The mind is the last bastion of individual freedom after all!

My father was a toxic asshat and he blighted my life. Now he's dead, and I can't change that. But I can change how I see him now, and what I make of the interaction we had when we were both alive. "There is always a new way to see things," as a fave writer of my once said. I cling to that, because the basic facts of what happened to me at my father's hands, and the fact that I can't call him to account anymore, won't ever change.

But I can change.

So I applaud the efforts of a T to try to restore balance to my often lopsided world view, which in my case is usually paranoia (everyone hates me, I'm a failure, I'm not as good as Bill, etc. etc.)

What I wonder about, though, is the sometimes clumsy way in which Ts bring this up. Sometimes a T should just make a private observation about what you're doing, and leave it there. I DON'T think Ts should always say whatever occurs to them about you, at the moment they have the thought. That's very clumsy, and it doesn't take into account the client's stage of development.

There's a gentler way to guide clients toward the realization that their patterns of thinking might not reflect reality. But just blurting out, "That's a cognitive distortion," isn't going to help most people in therapy.

And I really hate therapeutic jargon in session. A T shouldn't be larding their speech with crap like that too much.

I can do it if I want, of course! COGNITIVE DISTORTION, COGNITIVE DISTORTION, COGNITIVE DISTORTION! Hey, the client can do no wrong, right?

Good topic!