ABSTRACT
These can be used with any problem where it is difficult to elicit the client’s NATs. For example, a client said he would feel ‘inexplicably sad’ if he cleared out the spare room of his old possessions, but ‘I desperately need the room for a guest bedroom’. He agreed to start the task that weekend and record his thoughts on a daily thought record (DTR) form (see Point 47 and Appendix 2). At the next session, he said that clearing out his ‘old stuff’ triggered pleasant memories of his younger days which he contrasted with the present: ‘The happiest part of my life is behind me. Everything is dull and grey now. Where did my life go?’ (NATs). Another client was procrastinating over writing an article for an academic journal but said he was baffled by his continuing delay in ‘getting down to it’. He said that he would start that evening and record his accompanying thoughts. At the next session, his DTR form revealed how he had made himself very angry by imagining his finished article being rejected or subjected to extensive revision:
How dare they treat my work like this. Who are they to criticize me? They should automatically accept it after all my hard work. I’m not going to let those bastards pull me down to their level by tearing my article apart!
(very hot thoughts)