ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on teaching the client about negative automatic thoughts. Negative automatic thoughts lead to depression, and depression leads to more negative automatic thoughts. The depression then becomes self-sustaining. This is why it is important to learn how to overcome these negative automatic thoughts. When the dysfunctional beliefs are activated, negative automatic thoughts become more prominent and frequent, and this causes depression and the downward spiral. However, before the client can do this they have to understand a little more about the way they think. If the client is ready to move on, then introduce the idea that this step will start to focus on their thinking style. Review the session by asking the client what topics have been covered, and what they have learnt today, to ensure that they have understood what has been covered.
