Neurasthenia, part III

 Neurasthenia, part III                                                                     

The story of my therapy continues (from the two previous posts).

Gaspar [TRP Wirephoto]

Gaspar Stephens, who likes to keep track of other people’s mental states – and “not because it distracts me from my own,” he insists – Gaspar called to ask me what negative thoughts my “self-statements” were supposed to “counteract.” (On “self-statements” and to read the ones I have written so far, see here. On negative thoughts, follow me on Twitter.)
     “All of them,” I said. “I’m supposed to come up with self-statements that will counteract all my negative thoughts.”      
     “But examples,” Gaspar replied. “I need examples. What does ‘Stop speaking to yourself in the second person’ counteract?”      
     “Whenever I start to say, ‘You really think you can do that?’ or ‘You idiot!’ or ‘You might feel better if you had a dish of cereal.’ For instance.” I said.      
     He said, “What about ‘Start and see what happens; you can always “abandon ship”’?
     I said, “‘You don’t want to do that; you'll never get it done.’”         
     “What?”
     “That’s the negative thought, ‘You don’t want to do that, because you won’t finish.’”
     “How is the self-statement any more positive than the negative thought?”
     “I don’t know. Ask Bob.” Pause. “I could also use it, if I said to myself, ‘You don’t want to do that, why are you?’ I could say, ‘You don’t have to do it; you can always “abandon ship.”’ That would be positive. Right?” Pause. “Definitely.” I was pleased with myself, even if I wasn’t quite sure what I’d just said.
     Another pause. Gaspar (archly): “Where did you meet this ‘Bob’?” The question was rhetorical, because Gaspar knows Bob. He introduced him to me.

Screw him (Gaspar). In my opinion, this is going pretty well so far. Now, I am working on more negative thoughts, so I can write more “self-statements.” And Bob says I’m on the right track.
 

02.19.16