Cognitive Behaviour Therapy: An A-Z of Persuasive Arguments

177 Pages·2002·6 MB·English

by  Michael Neenan

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Cognitive Behaviour

Therapy

An A–Z of Persuasive
Arguments
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Cognitive

Behaviour

Therapy

An A–Z of Persuasive Arguments
M N
ICHAEL EENAN
Centre for Stress Management, London
and
W D
INDY RYDEN
Goldsmiths College, University of London
W
W H U R R P U B L I S H E R S
L O N D O N A N D P H I L A D E L P H I A
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© Whurr Publishers 2002
First published 2002 by
Whurr Publishers Ltd
19b Compton Terrace, London N1 2UN, England and
325 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia PA 19106, USA
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in
any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photo­
copying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permis­
sion of Whurr Publishers Limited.
This publication is sold subject to the conditions that it shall
not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out,
or otherwise circulated without the Publisher’s prior
consent, in any form of binding or cover other than that in
which it is published, and without a similar condition
including this condition being imposed upon any subsequent
purchaser.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British
Library.
ISBN 1 86156 326 4
Printed and bound in the UK by Athenaeum Press Limited,
Gateshead, Tyne & Wear.
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Contents

Preface vii
A–Z Persuasive Arguments 1–161
References 163
v
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Preface

Helping clients to develop alternative and more constructive
viewpoints to tackle their problems lies at the heart of cognitive behav­
iour therapy (CBT). This development is facilitated by the quality of the
arguments – not to be confused with arguing – you present to your
clients. Students as well as experienced practitioners frequently
complain to us that they are ‘stuck’ when it comes to answering some
clients’ self-defeating thoughts and beliefs; they lack or cannot think of
good and persuasive arguments to put forward at the time (one reason
for this may be because they believe the same ideas as their clients).
Echoing Hauck (1980a), we would suggest that your strength as a cogni­
tive behavioural therapist is, in part, measured by your ability to
summon up rational arguments to challenge clients’ irrational
arguments.
The purpose of this book is to provide you with some ideas and
arguments that you can present and build on in your discussions with
your clients. But just presenting ideas plucked from this book without
further elaboration of them is hardly likely to promote client change.
Therefore, this book represents an addition to your ‘argumentarium’ in
the same way that new techniques are added to your armamentarium.
Cross-references in the text are shown in small capitals.
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A

absolutist thinking
Absolutist thinkers view events in rigid, dogmatic and unqualified terms
(e.g. ‘I must get others at the meeting to agree with my point of view’)
and emotional disturbance is likely to occur when other people do not
see things their way (e.g. the person feels angry when the meeting
disagrees with his viewpoint) along with the unpleasant realization of
how limited their power and control actually is. Absolutist thinking is
extreme thinking (e.g. ‘Either you love me or you hate me’; ‘If I’m not a
success, then I’m a failure’) as the person omits complexity from his
worldview and refuses to acknowledge that there is a range of
viewpoints and options to consider within these extreme positions.
Therefore, an absolutist thinker is unable to compromise or tolerate
differences and is convinced of the correctness of his opinions.
Flexible thinkers, on the other hand, are less likely to trigger
emotional disturbance as they do not have a preconceived view of how
things must turn out or how others must behave; therefore, they have
developed contingency plans to meet changing situations and can adapt
to unanticipated outcomes. Flexible thinking is based on wishes, wants,
preferences (e.g. ‘I would very much prefer others at the meeting to
agree with my viewpoint but there is no reason why they must agree
with it’) and is more likely to promote successful problem-solving and
emotional stability than absolutist thinking. (In a play on Lord Acton’s
famous dictum that absolute power corrupts absolutely, we might say
that absolutist thinking disturbs ‘absolutely’, e.g. ‘I was absolutely furious
with him’, ‘I’m absolutely appalled by your indifference towards me’).
acceptance
Some clients refuse to accept that they have a problem because to do so
would mean surrendering to it (e.g. ‘The depression has won’).
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