351: Free Master Class on Perfectionism, Part 2 of 2

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

🗓️ 3 July 2023

⏱️ 99 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

A Second Visit to David and Jill's

Tuesday TEAM Training Group at Stanford

Last week, you “sat in” on our Tuesday training group at Stanford and learned about two of the four most important techniques in the treatment of perfectionism, or any other Self-Defeating Belief. (For a list of 23 common Self-Defeating Beliefs, click here.)

The Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA): You weight the advantages against the disadvantages of trying to be perfect.
The Semantic Technique, to find out how to word your new belief if you decide that your perfectionism belief isn’t working for you

The purpose of those two techniques is to provide intellectual change. Tonight, you will join us again as we aim for emotional change at the gut level.

This will be our agenda for the students in the class you will observe:

1. Please describe an example of a specific time when you felt upset due to perfectionism. What were your negative thoughts? How were you feeling? What was happening?

2. Downward Arrow Technique: Suppose you weren’t perfect, or you failed or screwed up in some way. Why would that be upsetting to you? What would that mean to you.

3. Externalization of Voices (Optional: possibly we will do this, maybe just mention it, depending on time.)

4. Experimental Technique / Examine the Evidence

5. Feared Fantasy

6. Wrap-up and Teaching Points

As you can see, some exercises will be performed in the large group, with everyone present and contributing, and some exercises will be in the small, breakout groups. The small groups provide more time for participants to practice. We plan on recording both of the small groups so you can observe the training techniques we use for mental health professionals.

Last week our focus was motivational, so we asked: is to your advantage to aim for perfection? How will this mind set help you and how will it hurt you?

Tonight, one of the key techniques will focus on TRUTH: is it TRUE that you need to aim for perfection? We will be using the Experimental Technique and / or Examine the Evidence to see if we can answer this question.

In addition, we will go into an Alice-in-Wonderland Nightmare World and meet an imaginary monster who claims superiority because she or he really is perfect and really has achieved incredibly more than anyone. This can sometimes help us answer two questions: Is it possible to be or become a “more worthwhile” or “superior” human being? Would it be desirable if you could?

I hope you enjoyed this new format of “dropping in” on my Tuesday training group at Stanford. Let Rhonda and me know what you think. It was just an experiment, and we want to know what you might have liked or disliked about it. Thanks!

Our free weekly Tuesday and Wednesday training groups are open to therapists of all persuasions from all around the world. For information including the requirements, you can contact:

Tuesday night training group with David and Jill, Contact Ed Walton: [email protected]
Wednesday mid-day group with Dr. Rhonda Barovsky and Richard Lam, Contact Ana Teresa Silva: [email protected]

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hello and welcome to the Feeling Good podcast, where you can learn powerful techniques to
0:12.0	change the way you feel. I am your host, Dr. Rhonda Borovsky, and joining me here in the
0:16.8	Murrieta studio is Dr. David Burns. Dr. Burns is a pioneer in the development of
0:22.3	cognitive behavioral therapy and the creator of the new team therapy. He's the author of Feeling
0:27.4	Good, which has sold over 5 million copies in the United States and has been translated into over 30
0:33.2	languages. His latest book, Feeling Great, contains powerful new techniques that make rapid recovery
0:39.3	possible for many people struggling with depression and anxiety. Dr. Burns is currently an emeritus
0:45.2	adjunct professor of clinical psychiatry at Stanford University School of Medicine. Hello,
0:53.5	and... Hello, David, and welcome to all of our listeners around the country and around the world.
1:02.4	This is the Feeling Good podcast, episode 351, and this is part two of your master class on perfectionism in the Tuesday group.
1:12.8	Fantastic.
1:13.2	Well, we won't waste a lot of time getting you started.
1:17.0	But this week, it will be similar to last week.
1:20.3	We're going to last week we went over the cost benefit analysis and the semantic method
1:24.6	as the first two methods for dealing with perfectionism.
1:28.2	And now this week we're going to do the other two key methods.
1:31.6	One is, and that was based on motivation and kind of intellectual change.
1:37.5	You know, do you want to be a perfectionist or not?
1:40.4	And then what new value system could you substitute? That was all about intellectual change and
1:46.9	motivation. This week, it's about change at the gut level and truth. You know, and so this week,
1:54.3	you'll be learning truth-based techniques to combat perfectionism, and you can use the experimental
1:59.9	technique or examine the evidence and
	...

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