041: Uncovering Techniques (Part 3) — The What-If Technique

Feeling Good Podcast | TEAM-CBT - The New Mood Therapy

David Burns, MD

Clinical, Therapy, Anxiety, Psychotherapy, Depression, Health & Fitness, Cognitive, Mentalhealth, Mental Health, Behavior, Education, Self-improvement, Psychology, Relationships, Addiction, Happiness, Personalgrowth

4.4 • 856 Ratings

🗓️ 19 June 2017

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The third uncovering technique is called the “What-If” Technique, developed by the late Dr. Albert Ellis. The What-If Technique can will help you identify a terrifying fantasy under the surface that fuels your fears. David brings this technique to life with an inspiring story of a woman from San Francisco suffering from more than 10 years of mild depression and paralyzing Agoraphobia—the intense fear of leaving home alone. You may be surprised when you discover the Negative Thoughts that triggered her fear of leaving her apartment alone, as well as the core fantasy at the root of her Agoraphobia. David and Fabrice also discuss the dramatic techniques that helped her completely defeat her fears and overcome her depression.

Below, we have included a PowerPoint presentation for you so that you can follow along when David and Fabrice do the What-If Technique together on the podcast.

In the next podcast, David and Fabrice will discuss Shame-Attacking Exercises. This is a powerful and bizarre exposure technique that can helpful in the treatment of shyness--but there’s a hook. Therapists must be willing to do Shame Attacking Exercises themselves before they can ask patients to do them! And that can be intimidating!

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to the Feeling Good podcast.
0:12.4	I am your host, Fabrice Knight.
0:14.7	And joining me here in the Murrieta Studios is Dr. David Burns.
0:19.0	Hi, David.
0:20.0	Hi, Fabrice.
0:23.8	Dr. David Burns has been a pioneer in the development of cognitive therapy, and he is the creator of the new team therapy. He is the author of
0:30.2	Feeling Good, which has sold over 5 million copies in the United States, and has been translated into
0:35.5	over 20 languages. He is an emeritus adjunct clinical professor
0:40.0	of psychiatry at the Stanford University School of Medicine. Welcome to episode 41 of the
0:47.0	Feeling Good podcast and today we are going to talk about the third uncovering technique, the what-if technique.
0:56.9	And so, David, what differentiates this technique from the other two that we've looked at,
1:04.3	especially from the individual downward arrow?
1:07.2	Yeah, the three downward arrow techniques are the individual downward arrow, the interpersonal downward arrow, and the what-f technique.
1:17.2	And in the two previous podcasts, we covered the individual downward arrow, and the goal there is to get to these self-esteem equations, the individual self-defeating beliefs like perfectionism, achievement addiction,
1:30.3	approval addiction, and things of that nature.
1:33.3	Yeah.
1:33.7	In the interpersonal downward arrow, you get at the way people set up relationships, the expectations
1:40.6	that we have.
1:42.0	Yeah, the rules.
1:43.2	Yeah, the rules of relationships that can lead to either conflicted, problematic relationships
1:50.3	or loving, joyous ones.
1:53.1	In the what-if technique, we're trying to uncover a fear, a core feared fantasy that's underneath someone's anxiety disorder. So in all three
	...

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