ABSTRACT
When NATS have been answered, and dysfunctional rules and assumptions modified, core beliefs become the next target of therapeutic intervention (if this is clinically justified – see Point 16). Core beliefs are fundamental appraisals we make of ourselves (e.g. ‘I’m not good enough’), others (e.g. ‘You can’t trust anyone’) and the world (e.g. ‘Everything is against me’). These are examples of maladaptive core beliefs – rigid and overgeneralized – which cognitive therapists help their clients to uncover. In this and the following points, (82-84), ways of uncovering core beliefs are demonstrated. The downward arrow (demonstrated in Point 71 to reveal a client’s underlying assumption) pursues the personal meaning for the client of each thought elicited until a core belief is discovered. It is important that the therapist does not engage in challenging the client’s thoughts as this will prevent the ‘arrow’ from going ‘down’ very far. Nor should she ask long-winded questions that will distract the client from the often intense introspective focus required of him for the successful completion of this exercise, or insert her own interpretations of the client’s problems into her questions (such as: ‘It seems to me that what you’re really saying is that you’re not a successful person. What does it mean to you to be an unsuccessful person?’) In the following example, the client is very worried about her husband’s sudden willingness to stay late at work:
Therapist: What’s anxiety-provoking for you about that? ↓
Client: He might be having an affair. Therapist: And if he is having an affair, what then?
