Neurasthenia, Part II

Sinner in the hand of an angry Bob.

 Neurasthenia, part II                           
Amateur cognitive behavioral therapy begins. For how I got into this, see yesterday's post.

The first thing you have to do, according to Bob: you have to write in one simple sentence exactly what’s bothering you. “Everything,” I wrote on the napkin between us on the bar. He shook his head: “That’s not a sentence.” “ . . . is bothering me,” I wrote.

     “Okay,” he said. “Now we’re getting somewhere.”

The next thing you have to do, according to Bob: you have to write a series of “self-statements” to counteract negative thoughts. The idea apparently . . . . Here's Bob: “So, every time you have a negative thought, or even think you’re going to, you substitute one of these statements. But they can’t be too positive, or you won’t believe them.”

So far I’ve got these, which he’s approved:
     - “This is not the end of the world as we know it; that’s some other joker’s responsibility.”
     - “Stop speaking to yourself in the second person.”
     - “Start and see what happens: you can always ‘abandon ship.’”

02.18.16