Christian Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: Exercises to Try

This article is an excerpt from the Shortform book guide to "Get Out of Your Head" by Jennie Allen. Shortform has the world's best summaries and analyses of books you should be reading.

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How is Christian cognitive behavioral therapy different from other types of cognitive-behavioral therapy? What are some exercises you can try?

Christian cognitive behavioral therapy integrates regular therapy techniques with religious affirmations and encouragement. Religious belief offers another layer of support that can be helpful for improving mood and mindset.

Here are some Christian cognitive behavioral therapy exercises to try.

Christian Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Exercises

According to Jennie Allen, Satan attacks your mind by convincing you to believe lies about yourself, which are rooted in a lie about God.

Your self-lies resolve into three general categories:

• “I’m helpless.”
• “I’m worthless.”
• “I’m unlovable.”

The fundamental lie about God that lurks behind your self-lies is the unconscious belief that God’s love isn’t for you. The source of these lies is both spiritual and practical. As stated in Chapter 1, the ultimate source of all such lies is demonic. On the practical level, painful life experiences generate self-lies, which then become part of you when engraved in your brain through toxic thoughts.

Exercise 1: Reframe Your Negative Thoughts

A key Christian cognitive behavioral therapy exercise is to reframe negative thoughts. The skill has a reciprocal relationship with stillness, in that stillness enables you to do it, while doing it is a strategy for reaching stillness 

The core strategy for reframing negative thoughts is as follows:

First, learn the basic negative thought pattern, which keeps you trapped in negativity: [negative emotion] because [reason]. Consider these examples:

• I’m overwhelmed because I have so many responsibilities.
• I’m anxious because I work long hours but can’t make ends meet.
• I’m furious because that person was rude.

Next, contrast the negative thought pattern with the alternative empowering rewritten pattern: [negative emotion] and [reason], so I will [choice]. Consider these examples:

• I’m overwhelmed and have many responsibilities, so I will pause and thank God for giving me the strength to accomplish what I need to do.
• I’m anxious and worried about my finances, so I will choose to pray and trust God instead of giving into fear.
• I’m furious and that person was rude, so I will reflect on God’s patience and kindness toward me.

Then use this knowledge to 1) identify and understand a negative thought, and 2) replace it with a rewritten, empowering thought. The exercise following this chapter will give you an opportunity for practicing.

Here’s a visual that shows how you can reverse the negative spiral of distraction by choosing stillness: 

Chapter 8 of Jennie Allen’s Get Out of Your Head lays out a practical strategy for reframing negative thoughts by exposing them, deconstructing them, and replacing them with positive thoughts from God. 

• Consider again the mental story map that you made for Chapter 6. Select one of your toxic thoughts that you identified and, if the thought isn’t already stated in the form of [negative emotion] + [reason], rephrase it that way below.
• Now use the empowering rewritten pattern to change it: [negative emotion] and [reason], so I will [choice], with the “choice” being a deliberate embrace of some appropriate, scripturally based truth. Write the result below.
• What insight does this exercise provide? How does it shed new light on your own mental processes and your ability to “mind your mind” and consciously shift your thoughts in a Godly direction?

Exercise 2: Create a Mental Story Map

Another key Christian cognitive behavioral therapy exercise to try is to create a mental story map. To do the work described in these chapters, one useful and practical tool is a “mental story map.” Evil never wants you to notice it. It prefers to sneak in and hijack your mind. A mental story map provides a specific technique for shining light on these unwanted intruders.

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Here's what you'll find in our full Get Out of Your Head summary :

• Satan’s master plan for poisoning your mind with toxic thoughts
• How to replace ungodly lies with scriptural truths
• How to “put on the mind of Christ” and fulfill God’s plan for you

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