[Perna]

Dr. Clay has written a really helpful list of the 5 parts of any problem:

"Every problem has five parts or levels: (1) the behavior involved, (2) the emotions experienced, (3) the skills you may need, (4) the mental processes involved (thoughts or self-talk, motivations, self-concept, values, and expectations), and (5) the unconscious forces that may contribute to your troubles." http://www.psychologicalselfhelp.org...2/chap2_2.html

I was wondering which (if any) part do you have the most trouble understanding, figuring out, or working on?

I guess I have trouble with #3 as, if I knew how to "fix" a problem, I'd probably have worked on it before? I tend to be too broad or vague in my "skills" I think I need, because I don't know how to make them more concrete and something I could "do" like "Take X class next for degree in Y."

[Sabrina]

Yes, #3 had me stumped. I felt I couldn't fine-tune skills (or even identify them) to the behaviour involved.

I found # 4 quite tricky too, probably because knowing the mental processes vs acting these out felt surreal to me.

[(JD)]

Therapy takes work doesn't it! What if you take your problem and look at it as if it was someone else's here at PC. When you do that, you really don't know what all is behind what they are saying and experiencing, so your mind looks for possible "causes" or influences. Being "unconscious" means they are not currently in your conscious mind to think...you have begin pulling the end of the string, so to speak.

What do you think?

[Sabrina]

I like that!