ABSTRACT

When someone is feeling low it can be hard not to generalise negative feelings and to use language that supports staying in a negative frame of mind. Ask them to try and spot when they use phrases like:

◆ always,

◆ everybody,

◆ nobody,

◆ everywhere,

◆ no one,

◆ always,

◆ never,

and to write them down, it might be a useful idea to collect these ‘statements’ in a jar for reference as an aid to monitor progress. It may also be helpful to ask the child to try and think of a different way of phrasing their feelings without using the above mentioned words.