How to get rid of negative beliefs? Article. Psychological consultation. Self-knowledge.ru

Beliefs are certain life principles that are a fundamental element of our thinking. They influence people's actions, like hypnosis. If we insist that life is full of suffering, our consciousness immediately rushes to search for confirmation (an accident occurred yesterday, people died, a beloved dog died, a girl left). Moreover, he doesn’t care what we have programmed ourselves for: laughter, joy or constant negativity. It is important for him that the world around him fully reflects the inner one. Often, the way of thinking creates a life scenario, preventing self-realization or enjoying what is happening around. In this article I will talk about what self-limiting beliefs are, how they arise in our heads, and also give a list of specific examples.

How negative life beliefs are formed

Everyone has strong beliefs about certain things - a list of rules that we follow. Such theories are adopted from parents or relatives who have special authority for the individual. A person adheres to the main theses, never subjecting them to criticism from the outside.

Attitudes are not always borrowed from others; they can be formed over the years based on observations and experience. At the right time, habits save you from an unpleasant situation, but sometimes they lose their relevance. Everything changes, and unnoticed by a person they slow down his psychological, physical and financial well-being.

CHARISMATIC persuasion style

Only the name of the style already characterizes it - undoubtedly it is charm, a certain charm and attractiveness. These people are excellent speakers who do not hesitate to use emotional influence techniques. These people have incredible mysticism and attract us to themselves, which makes us believe them without requiring rational arguments. There are very few such people, but they still exist. If you manage to meet real charismatics, try to analyze the reason for such mystical attraction.

On the negative nature of material possessions

I will describe the most banal but well-known principle “Money is evil.” The expression originated in the revolutionary years, when being well off was tantamount to executions and murders. People persecuted by the new regime were afraid and knew for sure that if you were rich, they would definitely come for you. Then this expression wandered from generation to generation and for a long time was commensurate with generally accepted methods of survival.

After difficult years, silence came and a new era of market and economic relations arrived. The installation became irrelevant, because having money allowed an individual to receive a good education, quality medical services, the latest technology or housing.

Is poverty a cause for shame?

Another common example that hundreds of people encounter every day is “it’s a shame to be poor.” A false, unfounded judgment. A person should feel shame for his actions or words that are offensive to others. If a person does not commit negative actions and his only trouble is that an impressive amount has not been set aside for a rainy day, it is not his fault.

This judgment, like a nail stabbing from the inside, reduces self-esteem, destroys consciousness, preventing you from believing in your capabilities and improving your material condition. People who are not embarrassed by anything, who perceive poverty and wealth equally, overcome difficulties much faster, more decisively and more effectively.

Symptoms of delirium

Delirium deeply affects all spheres of the individual’s psyche, especially affecting the affective and emotional-volitional spheres. Thinking changes in complete submission to the delusional plot.

Delusional disorder is characterized by paralogicality (false inference). The symptoms are characterized by redundancy and belief in delusional ideas, and in relation to objective reality there is a discrepancy. At the same time, the person’s consciousness remains clear, the intellect is slightly weakened.

The delusional state should be distinguished from the delusions of mentally healthy individuals, since it is a manifestation of the disease. When differentiating this disorder, it is important to consider several aspects.

1. For delusions to occur, there must be a pathological basis, just as personality delusions are not caused by a mental disorder.

2. Delusions relate to objective circumstances, and delusional disorder relates to the patient himself.

3. Correction is possible for delusions, but for a delirious patient this is impossible, and his delusional belief contradicts the previous worldview before the onset of this disorder. In real practice, sometimes differentiation can be very difficult.

Acute delirium. If consciousness is completely subordinated to a delusional disorder and this is reflected in behavior, then this is acute delirium. Occasionally, the patient can adequately analyze the surrounding reality and control his behavior, if this does not relate to the topic of delirium. In such cases, delusional disorder is called encapsulated.

Primary delirium. Primary delusional disorder is called primordial, interpretive, or verbal. The primary cause of it is a defeat of thinking. The logical, rational consciousness is affected. In this case, the patient’s perception is not impaired and he is able to be productive for a long time.

Other destructive attitudes about money

Here is a list of examples of limiting and negative beliefs from life:

Psychologist Daria Milai

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If a person has an expensive car, he earned it through criminal means. It is not possible to do this with your own mind.
All rich people are very lucky to be born into such a family, but I am destined to be poor.
Money is nothing but misfortune.
There have never been any rich people in our family, so I will also become one of the poor.
Financial success can be achieved by a person with good initial capital - inheritance, parental support, lottery winnings, sponsors. It is impossible to become a leader on your own.
To earn a round sum, you need to work for days, without straightening your back, without rest and sleep.
A highly spiritual person must certainly be poor. After all, wealth spoils us. Motivational speaker, author and presenter of popular personal growth programs Elena Blinovskaya, gives vivid examples of limiting beliefs that appear in our heads. She argues that the financial sphere is no different from other systems in our lives: relationships, friendships, or careers. Money has the same meaning and value as everything spiritual.

All these statements and thoughts limit our capabilities and prevent us from achieving success.

How are negative attitudes formed?

To consider the concept of limiting beliefs in detail, you must first define what they are in principle. A person’s firm confidence in something is a rule of life for an individual. She does not doubt it and, according to it, performs certain actions. The theory of limiting beliefs says: an attitude can be transmitted from parents, or from those people whose opinion is important. A person follows this thesis without subjecting it to critical evaluation. In addition, he can create his own conviction, based on everyday experience, and consciously follow such a concept.

In what cases are we talking about a limiting belief? Each moral principle speaks about a person’s specific experience and serves as a guide for him in the whirlpool of life events. At one point it may turn out to be useful, saving him from trouble. But time passes, the situation changes, and the old belief no longer works and loses its relevance. Moreover, it begins to inhibit the further development of the individual, negatively affecting his psychological, physical and material well-being.

Common female misconception

Beliefs cover many topics. But one of the most common topics remains the topic of interpersonal relationships. Many girls say that men cannot be trusted. In ancient times this statement may have made common sense. By adhering to this idea, a woman could protect herself from extramarital affairs, which were strongly condemned by society, unplanned pregnancies, and illnesses. In addition, she could successfully marry and maintain her reputation as an unapproachable woman.

Now everyone has access to effective methods of contraception, and they look at the face of the opposite sex much more confidently.

Other negative attitudes in love

There are other negative life beliefs that prevent us from enjoying unions or, in general, entering into a relationship:

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All men are bad. Usually such prejudices are formed on the basis of bad experiences. Unworthy options come across all the time. In all relationships, the same scenario will be repeated until the woman realizes the urgent need to get rid of established principles.
It’s not only girls who speak negatively about the stronger sex. Men are also full of thoughts that women are mercantile and they only need the financial part of the union. The presence of such an idea leads to the fact that the guy programs himself for a scenario where he will definitely come across ladies who are not indifferent to his wallet.
“I am unworthy of true love and happiness.” If you have such an association, seek help from a specialist. I will help you get rid of limiting foundations and restore faith in yourself, sign up for my consultation. As soon as such a woman meets a good man, she plagues him with suspicion, jealousy and uncertainty about his sincerity. Relationships are full of quarrels and clarifications. Often such couples break up on the initiative of the lady herself, who has come up with too many problems for herself.
“There is no romance in the world now.” There are no such ideal relationships as in the old movies. The modern romantic approach is no worse than the past.

Strong Beliefs Worth Developing

Is it right to have beliefs in this day and age? The answer is simple and ridiculously obvious: good beliefs are right. But which beliefs are good? Checking this is easier than it might seem. If your beliefs lead to respect from others, making interesting and smart friends, optimism, and achieving challenging goals, then they are most likely correct. And vice versa.

Some people are convinced that life is an eternal struggle. They see everyone as rivals and enemies. And they buy them. Perhaps this is not the best belief, because it puts such people above others. If you learn to find an approach to people and interact effectively with them, this will indicate the correctness of your beliefs. Here's a list to think about.

Belief One: My life is an incredible gift.

Even in the most difficult situations, you can remember this simple thing: you are alive, you can interact with others and develop.

Notice the little things around you, be grateful for everything you have. This belief helps achieve a spiral effect: the better you think about your life, the better it becomes.

Belief Two: Everyone I meet is potentially my best friend.

Such is the human psyche: if we treat a stranger well, he often reciprocates. So treat new people like your best friends. This strategy will help in acquiring acquaintances and who knows, maybe one day they will play a key role in your destiny.

If you consider everyone around you to be enemies, you will only receive enmity in return. You will make ill-wishers, get stressed, and expect a blow from everywhere. So which belief is better?

Belief three: the next 24 hours are the most important in my life.

There is no “tomorrow”, there is only “now” and “today”. The habit of believing that in a few days we will begin to change our lives leads to laziness and procrastination, to a complete inability to make decisions and act.

What happens today affects tomorrow and so on. So if you look forward to the next 24 hours, look for opportunities and develop yourself, it will give you strength for the coming days.

Give it your all today: that's the only thing you can do.

Belief four: everything will end well in the end

Agree, in most cases, all life’s troubles can be resolved. Got fired? This is an opportunity. A new challenge, a way to find worthy use of your abilities or develop new ones. Expelled from the university? Well, it's not the end of the world either. Find a job, become a professional, develop skills. Life is an eternal school, you just need to be constantly ready to perceive new things and learn.

Belief Five: Life is a game to be played, not a problem to be solved.

When we look at life as a game, we get a lot of positive emotions. Otherwise, it’s stress, anxiety, apathy and depression.

Agree, a person who sees a game in everything is able to cope with any difficulties. He just wonders why he made a mistake or failed. This is a scientific, inventive interest. Such a life becomes an adventure, a mystery and a mystery.

Conviction six: I will realize my potential to 100% no matter what and achieve success.

Conviction for the most courageous. What potential do you have? Don't lie, you think very well of yourself and think you deserve better. So maybe it's time to stop doing nonsense, complaining about fate and take matters into your own hands?

Don't wait for the right moment. Find your true passion and follow it to the end while absorbing new information, meeting new people and achieving serious goals.

Belief seven: No one cares what I really think.

All people think only about themselves. And they only care about their own problems. This is neither good nor bad: it is a given. They may think about you when you are in the spotlight, but then they will forget because everyone is surrounded by hundreds of small problems and dozens of big ones.

Stop worrying about what people think of you. It looks quite funny, actually.

Belief eight: asking questions is okay, saying “no” is okay too.

If you don't understand something, ask. Don't be shy to ask questions because people love to answer them.

Also remember that you can refuse any request. This doesn't mean saying no always, just know that you have the right.

Belief Nine: Change Yourself First

Some of us want to change the world and that is a laudable desire. But year after year passes and nothing happens.

If you change yourself first, the world will automatically begin to change itself. Friends and those closest to you will begin to gravitate towards you, you will become an example to follow. And then they will start listening to you.

We wish you good luck!

We also recommend reading:

Storytelling
The power of persuasion according to Conger
Thetahealing: learning to reevaluate your life
What are beliefs and how to change them
Gratitude Skill
Strategies for Overcoming Limiting Beliefs
A person's main limiting belief
Robert Cialdini, Noah Goldstein, Steve Martin “The Psychology of Persuasion” - summary
Eight ways to be more persuasive
Persuasion Tactics
False Beliefs

Key words:1Psychoregulation

Destructive career ideas

Have you noticed how many talented, gifted individuals in your circle who know their profession well, are best versed in the material, but, alas, do not occupy leadership positions. What do you think is stopping them from succeeding? Certainly! Internal beliefs. And here is a small list of them:

To get a promotion, you need to have a higher education, but I don’t have it, so I’ll always be an ordinary employee.
Only true professionals can succeed. To be like them, I need to have three higher education degrees, defend a dissertation, take a lot of advanced training courses, and perhaps then I will begin to put my skills into practice.
Under no circumstances should you upset your family. I must go to the educational institution that my parents want and advise.
You need to try or start something when you are young. At 30, 40, or especially 50, it’s too late. Old people are not in demand anywhere.

Social psychology | Page 1 | Online library

Social Psychology

David Myers

(David G. Myers "Social Psychology", 7th ed., 2002)

about the author

David J. Myers is a professor of psychology at Hope College in Michigan. He is not only a brilliant teacher, but also an outstanding scientist: the American Psychological Association (9th Division) awarded him the Gordon Allport Prize for his research on group polarization. His scientific articles have been published in more than two dozen journals. D. Myers is a consulting editor of the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology and The Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, and the author of dozens of books, including popular science.

Preface

When I was first asked to write this textbook, I imagined a book that would be both rigorously scientific and humane, filled with proven facts and intriguing. It needs to be as compelling about social psychology as a crime reporter is about an investigative story, and to do this it needs to summarize the latest research on major social phenomena and how scientists study and interpret it. . The material should be presented fairly fully, but it should also stimulate students’ thinking—their willingness to delve into the essence of problems, analyze them, and relate the principles of science to what happens in real life.

How should an author select material for a “sufficiently complete” introductory textbook to the discipline he is studying? Material that would be perceived as a complete narrative, but at the same time would not be intimidating by its cumbersomeness, because it can be absorbed in parts? And I decided to present those theories and data that, on the one hand, are quite accessible to the average student, and on the other hand, are not covered in other courses in sociology or psychology, and at the same time pay special attention to the material that makes it possible to present social psychology in the spirit of the intellectual tradition inherent in the humanities. A liberal arts education that draws on the masterpieces of literature and the greatest achievements of philosophy and science develops our thinking, broadens our horizons, and frees us from the power of the immediate. Social psychology can also contribute to achieving these goals.

Only a few of those who study psychology as students become professional psychologists; almost all choose other specialties. By focusing on aspects of this science that are important from a humanistic point of view, it is possible to present its fundamental content in such a way that it will be useful and stimulating to all students.

Social psychology is a real celebration of ideas! Throughout human history, human social behavior has been scientifically studied for only one century, the one that recently ended. If we take into account that we are only at the very beginning of the journey, we can say that the results achieved do us credit. We have been enriched with important information about beliefs and illusions, about love and hate, about conformity and independence.

Although much of human behavior still remains a mystery, social psychology today can partially answer many intriguing questions:

—Will people behave differently if they first accept new attitudes? If so, which method of persuasion is most effective?

— Why do people sometimes help and sometimes harm each other?

— How do social conflicts arise and what needs to be done to ensure that its participants unclench their fists and shake hands?

Answering these questions—and this is my mission as the author of this book—allows us to better understand ourselves and the social forces that affect us.

How is the textbook structured?

The presentation of the main course is preceded by a separate chapter, which introduces the reader to the methods of socio-psychological research. She also warns students that results that are already known may be taken for granted, and that social psychologists' own moral values permeate the science they study. The task that the author set for himself while working on this chapter was to prepare students to perceive what is presented in the remaining chapters.

The book is structured according to its definition of social psychology as the science of how people think about each other (Part I), influence each other (Part II), and treat each other (Part III).

Part I is devoted to social thinking, i.e., how we perceive ourselves and others. It evaluates the accuracy of our impressions, intuitions, and explanations.

Part II examines social influence. By acknowledging the cultural sources of our attitudes and examining the nature of conformity, persuasion, and groupthink, we can better understand the hidden social forces at work on us.

Part III focuses on the manifestations of both negative and positive social attitudes (in the form of attitudes and behavior). It is structured in this way: the story about aggression is preceded by a presentation of material about prejudices, and the story about altruism is preceded by material about the mutual inclinations of people; it concludes with a consideration of the dynamics of the conflict and its resolution.

The practical use of the results of socio-psychological research is described both in each chapter and in the separate chapter “Applied Social Psychology”, consisting of three independent modules: “Social Psychology in the Clinic”, “Social Psychology and Justice” and “Social Psychology and Reliability”. future".

In this edition, as in the previous one, much attention is paid to different cultures, as can be seen, in particular, in Chapter 6, which talks about the role of cultural traditions; This is also evidenced by the use in all chapters of the book of the results of research conducted in different countries. All authors are children of their culture, and I am no exception. And yet, thanks to my acquaintance with world psychological literature, correspondence with researchers living in different parts of the globe, and trips abroad, I had the opportunity to introduce the world of social psychology to readers from different countries. The emphasis, as in previous editions, is on the fundamental principles of social thinking, social influence, and social behavior as they are formulated based on the results of carefully conducted experimental research. In the hope of expanding our understanding of that one family called humanity, I have sought to illustrate these principles with transnational examples.

To make it easier for readers to study this book, I have again divided each chapter into three or four short sections. Each section is preceded by a short announcement and ends with a summary that systematizes the content of the section and highlights key concepts.

Believing, like Thoreau, that “all living things can be written simply and naturally in intelligible language,” I worked on each paragraph to create a textbook that was as entertaining and useful as possible. Thanks to the new artistic design of the book, the drawings and photographs acquired greater expressiveness. As in the previous edition, at the end of the book there is a glossary that explains the terms used during the presentation.

Although there is only one name on the cover of this book, in fact, a large team of scientists was involved in its creation. Despite the fact that none of them bears any responsibility for what I wrote and despite the fact that not all of them agree with me on everything, their comments and suggestions undoubtedly benefited me.

The book retains many of the helpful comments and improvements made by consultants and reviewers of the first six editions. And I am sincerely grateful to each of them.

Hope College (Michigan) and the University of St. Petersburg provided me with invaluable assistance. Andres (Scotland). Thanks to the people working in these educational institutions and the atmosphere prevailing in them, I enjoyed the very process of “gestating” Social Psychology. At Hope College, the poet Jack Riedl helped me find the tone you'll hear when you read this book, and Kathy Adamski brought back her kindness and secretarial talent. Phyllis and Rick Vandervelde handled all the drawings extremely professionally and quickly. Katherine Brownson, Jennifer Huber, and Rachel Brownson worked on the bibliography, proofreading, and all clerical work. Katherine Brownson also worked on the creation of a new section, “Social Psychology in My Work,” and she also did most of the thankless work of compiling the author index and page-by-page reference checking.

About myself and life

In addition to the above two categories of restrictions in the personal and professional sphere, there are also those that relate exclusively to our personality. Eg:

I've been so unlucky since I was born. That's why nothing works for me.
Beauty standard 90x60x90. My figure is far from these parameters, so I will never be considered beautiful. She hasn't grown up yet.
Each person thinks only about himself and his own benefit in a certain matter.
The world is definitely designed in such a way that some have everything, and others have nothing.
Everyone carries their own cross.
Being is running in a vicious circle.

Formation of dysfunctional thoughts

Formation of dysfunctional beliefs, thoughts, and behavior based on childhood experience in cognitive therapy.

In one of your articles you already touched on the specifics of working in cognitive therapy. This article will be devoted to revealing the features of the formation of dysfunctional thoughts and ideas based on beliefs and childhood experience, as well as conceptualization (describing the model of the client’s problem) in the process of psychotherapy.

Let us recall that cognitive therapy is based on the assumption that a person’s reactions are predetermined not by the actual situation, but by his perception of this situation. This or that interpretation of the situation predetermines the behavioral, emotional, and physiological response of the body.

The question of what elements make up this interpretation is quite simple to answer - it consists of thoughts and ideas that arise in our minds in response to the situation. Even while reading this article, different people may have different thoughts, for example, “This article is too boring” or “This article is very interesting.” In the first case, a person will simply stop reading after a couple of lines, this will be his behavioral reaction, and fatigue due to which he will stop reading can be considered as a physiological and emotional reaction.

However, such thoughts and judgments not only predetermine the individual’s normal activities, they also predetermine his mental disorders. The difference between problematic thoughts and healthy ones lies in their adequacy and adaptability. Most problematic thoughts are inadequate and do not reflect reality. They are formed due to incorrect logical justification and do not correspond to the real situation. This is where a person’s thoughts are divided into adaptive or functional and maladaptive or dysfunctional. Adaptive thoughts help us to adequately respond to a situation and adapt to it. Maladaptive ones, on the contrary, give rise to inadequate reactions in the form of neurotic behavior, negative emotions, and various physiological problems. Often dysfunctional thoughts are not only the cause, but also the consequence of a mental disorder, which may be based, for example, on biological causes. In this case, these thoughts will be a symptomatic manifestation for us.

Cognitive therapy. ABC model

In cognitive therapy we talk not just about thoughts, but about automatic thoughts. These are the thoughts that are considered problematic.

Automatic thoughts are those verbal formulations or ideas that occur without conscious thought or reflection in response to a situation. Such thoughts arise by themselves, they are fleeting and fragmentary. In most cases, the client either does not realize the occurrence of an automatic thought, or is aware of it, but does not take any action in relation to it, does not try to challenge it or change it.

Despite the above, automatic thoughts still have a reason. This reason lies in our beliefs. In cognitive therapy, there are two levels of beliefs: intermediate and deep.

Intermediate beliefs are a more specific level of beliefs in relation to deep ones. Intermediate beliefs cover various areas of a person's life. Although the client often has difficulties in verbalizing and designating them, such beliefs are still much easier to designate than deep ones.

Intermediate beliefs are divided into: rules, attitudes and assumptions.

1. Attitude presupposes an emotional attitude towards a particular fact (“What he does is terrible!”). Such beliefs primarily shape our emotional response to a situation.

2. Rules focus more on our behavior and self-esteem. Here you can find such beliefs as “I must constantly work hard”, “I must always achieve the highest results”, “I must not show weakness”.

3. Assumptions involve building a cause-and-effect relationship between possible behavior and the result, i.e. they also focus on our behavior. Examples include the following beliefs: “If I try hard, I will probably achieve what others achieve without effort”, “I have no chance at the next interview.”

Rule-type beliefs also often act as compensatory beliefs. These are beliefs characterized by ought, i.e. they use the words “Must, must, necessary,” etc. As a rule, such beliefs work in conjunction with attitude beliefs. For example, if an individual believes that being incapable of anything is terrible (belief attitude), then in any situation where he turns out to be “not capable of anything,” the individual himself suffers and hence the belief “I must always and in everything” arises. To be the best". However, such a belief, for all its positive sound, forces a person to compare himself with others and obviously not always be satisfied with the result of the comparison, which further strengthens his belief-attitude, and also leads to the creation of additional beliefs, such as “I am not capable of anything.” " Thus, the gap between the actual image of the “I” and the real one (“I need to be the best, but I can’t do it”) increases more and more, which causes the individual even more discomfort.

Cognitive therapy. ABC model

Super task. Reprogramming the subconscious.

All types of intermediate beliefs arise from deep beliefs.

Deep beliefs are most often formed in childhood and represent basic attitudes towards the world (“I am good and people are good”, “The world is safe”, “I deserve love”, etc.). Deep beliefs act as overgeneralizations; they are extremely difficult to change, since the client’s entire picture of the world is tied to them. Usually the client cannot clearly identify his deepest belief, and as a result it is presented more in an abstract form. Close to the concept of deep beliefs is the concept of “scheme” by Jeffrey Young.

If automatic thoughts are formed from intermediate beliefs, and those in turn from deep beliefs, then a fair question arises where deep beliefs arise. The answer here is, on the one hand, simple, but on the other hand, it has a number of features.

Deep beliefs are created based on the generalization of our thoughts. So, if in childhood the mother often repeated to a child that he was stupid, and the child mentally agreed with this, the very thought of his stupidity became a habit and turned into a conviction. However, the origins of deep-seated beliefs can be found even before a person develops the ability to think. In this case, we are talking about a child who, at a reflexive level, connects this or that event with his emotional reaction. As he grows up, he begins to rationalize his feelings and reactions in problematic situations in one way or another, giving them a meaningful form, and on the basis of such rationalizations our beliefs are formed.

To illustrate the process of forming dysfunctional beliefs and thoughts, and describing them during therapy (in cognitive therapy, creating a model of problematic thoughts and the client’s reaction is called conceptualization), we will give you a real example of the history of the formation of automatic thoughts and dysfunctional beliefs described in Judith Beck’s book “Cognitive Therapy” "

An example of the formation of deep-seated beliefs, thoughts and dysfunctional behavior

Sally is a student who has been diagnosed with moderate depression. She sought help from a counselor due to her depressed mood, anxiety, and feelings of loneliness.

From the first session, the conceptualization process began. The therapist asked the girl questions about how she felt in certain situations. It turned out that she was worst in the evenings, when she went to bed and tried to sleep. Next, the therapist began to study her thoughts: “What do you think about when you try to sleep?” These questions help identify problematic behavior and thought patterns.

The patient reported that most often she was visited by the following thoughts: “I will never finish my coursework,” “I will be expelled,” “I am worthless and will never achieve anything.” She also described how she imagines herself with a suitcase in hand, wandering mindlessly through the streets without a goal.

This information helped in the initial description of the client’s problem and in describing her current pattern of behavior. Subsequently, the therapist studies the patient’s history, considers various factors that influenced the formation of the disease, complementing the conceptualization model originally formulated by him.

The story of this patient clearly shows how beliefs predetermine thoughts and behavior, on the one hand, and, on the other, how the characteristics of our thinking are related to mental disorder. This relationship is especially clear when considering two periods of a girl’s life: before and after the onset of depression. It is worth paying attention to how the patient’s thinking changes from the onset of the disease.

What is cognitive therapy and how does it work?

Experiments in hypnosis: hypnotic phenomena in deep hypnosis (somnambulism). Hypnosis training

Sally's Deepest Beliefs

The patient’s deepest beliefs were formed on the basis of her childhood experience, and above all the experience of family interaction: interaction with her mother and brother.

Her brother was a very capable and talented person. Throughout her childhood, she compared herself to him, and, obviously, not to her advantage. She increasingly noticed that her achievements were nothing compared to her brother's. Thoughts constantly scrolled through her head: “He draws better,” “He rides a bike better,” “I will never be able to learn to read like him,” etc. Gradually, she began to really believe that she was not capable of anything on her own. I'm worthless.

However, this was not enough and Sally’s mother got involved. She constantly reproached her, comparing her with her brother: “You stupid girl! Can’t do anything as expected?”, “Your brother has a wonderful report card, and you?”

Since in childhood the words of our parents have a fatal meaning for us and essentially act as suggestions, Sally always agreed with her mother, I think that she is right in everything.

Thus, the deep-seated belief “I am insignificant” was formed, which, however, includes much more than these two words and quite seriously covers the specific experience of a person and his childhood memories.

The formation of deep-seated beliefs in childhood is determined primarily by the degree to which basic children's needs are satisfied (the need for love, attention, encouragement, etc.). Problematic deep-seated beliefs are most often formed on the basis of certain unmet needs in childhood. Subsequently, this is expressed in intermediate beliefs of different nature. As a rule, beliefs of a self-condemning nature arise: “I am not worthy of love,” “I am not capable of anything,” and on their basis, compensatory beliefs arise, tied to the activities that were required of the child in childhood in order to deserve love. For example, in this case, the main emphasis was on what the mother praised Sally's brother for. For Sally, thus, obtaining the highest results in one activity or another became a way of compensating for an unsatisfied need for love.

Factors in the development of persuasion

Now we will look at the factors that in one way or another contributed (negative factors) and, conversely, prevented the strengthening of Sally’s negative beliefs (positive factors).

Negative factors

Sally's beliefs continued to develop during her school years. The girl constantly compared herself with her classmates. Despite the fact that Sally's academic performance was quite high, she compared herself only with the best students, and such a comparison, of course, did not go in her favor. She constantly had thoughts: “Others learn better than me,” “I will never in my life understand this topic as well as they do.” Comparison with the best does not happen just like that. This is how the effect of cognitive dissonance manifests itself when a person, if he has this or that belief, tries to confirm it in all ways, including distorting information.

Based on the belief of her worthlessness, the patient began to give negative interpretations to any events, and this, in turn, again reinforced her belief.

For example, it happened that the mother shouted at the girl and then Sally thought: “Mom is certainly right. I’m an absolute fool and a clueless person.” And she considered all the negative situations in which the girl found herself in one way or another as further proof of her own worthlessness.

Having achieved certain successes, Sally, on the contrary, leveled them out, declaring to herself “This is just an accident” or “I’m lucky, this won’t happen again next time.”

Thus, day after day and year after year, the patient’s negative core belief in her own worthlessness found its reinforcement and became more and more durable.

Positive factors

Still, there was a silver lining in the series of disappointments and self-flagellation. He appeared in the person of Sally's father, who supported her and praised her. Unlike her mother, who always blamed her child for failures, Sally’s father preferred to reward her for successful attempts. So, while teaching his daughter to play basketball, when the girl succeeded in something, he said: “You did it... You did great!”

There were some school teachers who also praised Sally for doing her schoolwork so well. Finally, the girl has developed quite a relationship with her peers. She understood that many things worked out better for her than for her friends.

Thus, Sally developed countervailing positive beliefs regarding certain areas of the girl’s life in which she achieved positive results.

Other beliefs

The girl's other beliefs and thoughts about the world and the people around her remained mostly positive and adaptive. Typically, such beliefs were more active during the patient’s life, but with the onset of the disease, negative beliefs began to dominate.

Thus, it can be seen that a person’s life activity in adulthood is largely predetermined by his deepest beliefs. A person, initially possessing one or another cognitive scheme, will rarely try to perceive new information from a blank slate; on the contrary, our mind is designed in such a way that we always integrate new information into a scheme that is already familiar to us. The more factors that fall under a given scheme, the more reinforcement it receives, becoming more and more rigid in the process of growing up and socialization.

We should also note the critical importance of family in shaping our beliefs. The fact is that it is in the family that the primary patterns of interaction with people are formed. Further, when a child enters school, he already has these communication patterns at his disposal, which he uses. Depending on how adaptive these patterns are, the nature of a person’s thoughts and beliefs will be determined. But since these patterns are taken from a childhood family situation, where the rudiments of beliefs were also already formed, then most likely, by applying these patterns a person will achieve the same results of interaction that he achieved in the family. With dysfunctional patterns, its interaction will be ineffective, and deep beliefs will be reinforced and expanded into various intermediate beliefs.

It is worth noting, however, the possibility of a sharp change in the pattern of interaction, which is also traumatic for the child. This often happens in cases of overprotection, when parents satisfy absolutely all the whims of the child. Then the child ends up, for example, in school - an environment where no one is going to satisfy his needs. Cognitive dissonance and a situation of trauma are created, the individual has to change either his ideas about others in the negative direction “Everyone is a freak, but I’m the king,” or his idea of himself. In both cases, the individual usually isolates himself from society, or behaves inappropriately and ineffectively. What specific problematic reaction an individual will give us will be determined rather by his innate characteristics. An initially schizoid individual will simply withdraw into himself, in response to trauma, a hyperthymic individual, on the contrary, will excessively impose his communication on others. Therefore, with the same type of injury, completely different reactions, thoughts and beliefs can be observed.

Nevertheless, during the first transition from a purely family social circle to communication in a team (kindergarten, school), the chances of forming or changing deep-seated beliefs are quite high, due to the sudden change in environment and the need to adapt to the new situation. Later, in adulthood, children's beliefs remain practically unchanged unless you work on them purposefully.

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Intermediate Beliefs: Attitudes, Rules, and Assumptions

Family interactions led to the formation of individual intermediate beliefs that are compensatory in nature: “I should always succeed in everything”; “Everything must be done in the best possible way”; “Under no circumstances should you cut yourself short.”

The intermediate beliefs, in turn, influenced the patient's thinking and behavior. For example, during her school years, she refused to participate in the publication of the school newspaper, out of fear that she would not be able to write good articles, although in fact she was very interested in doing this.

Before exams, the girl always felt anxious and felt guilty for spending too little time preparing and being too lazy.

However, in moments when, on the contrary, positive beliefs were active in her mind, Sally felt much better about herself, although she never considered herself complete.

The girl also formed the assumption: “If I try hard, I will be able to overcome my inability and will achieve good results in my studies.” But during depression, this assumption stopped working, and the patient replaced it with another: “I have so many shortcomings that I will never succeed.”

Thus, in contrast to deep beliefs, which predetermine our holistic attitude towards ourselves and the world, intermediate beliefs establish specific rules for action in various situations. Therefore, one can often observe a stratification between seemingly positive intermediate beliefs (for example, “We must achieve the best results”) and deep beliefs (for example, “I am worthless”), which often results in deep disorders. Thus, a person who is effectively engaged in business can have a serious level of depression, simply because, with the help of his business, he is trying to satisfy a need that was not satisfied in childhood. But it is obvious that no matter how well he runs his business, this will not help him earn the love that he did not receive in childhood.

Automatic thoughts

While verbalizing her deep and intermediate beliefs was quite a challenge for Sally, she was, however, quite clearly aware of the automatic thoughts that arose in her in certain problematic situations.

For example, as a student at school, at a time when she was not yet depressed, she decided to enroll in the girls' softball and hockey section. She was accepted into the softball section, and she was happy: “Wonderful! Now I’ll ask dad to work with me.” When she was not accepted into the hockey team, she was disappointed, but not so much as to accuse herself of worthlessness.

Everything, however, changed with the onset of the disease. The students who lived in her dorm decided to have a friendly baseball match and invited the girl to participate. Her condition predetermined her thoughts: “I’m playing poorly and won’t be able to score the ball.” And, having received a C in the exam, she decided: “I’m a fool. I'm going to get kicked out of college."

Thus, we can see what changes in thinking are brought about by a change in internal state. As a result, such thinking maintains a state of depression, which reinforces dysfunctional thoughts and beliefs. This is also reflected in a person’s activity; he finds more and more confirmation of his thoughts, which further worsens his condition.

The problem is that an individual, having this or that thought, often perceives it as absolutely true, simply because it is based on his beliefs. To understand the maladaptive nature of a thought, it is necessary to challenge not the thought itself, but the premises on which it is based, i.e. these same beliefs.

Sally's Behavioral Strategies

The belief of inferiority and worthlessness forced Sally to develop so-called coping strategies of behavior, i.e. strategies with which Sally tried to cope with her apparent lack of escape from negative emotions that appeared again and again as soon as she found another confirmation of her belief.

In order to overcome her worthlessness, the girl began to make excessive efforts in education and sports. She showed great effort in preparing for the exams. She finally became hypervigilant about facts that confirmed her worthlessness, and began to exert even more effort when she failed. At the same time, Sally refused outside help, afraid to show her inferiority in front of other people.

In this way, we can see how our thoughts and beliefs influence our behavior, both our activities and the physiological response of the body. Any negative thoughts lead to changes in hormonal levels. Anxious thoughts cause the release of stress hormones, which over time increasingly depletes the body. However, thoughts do not have to directly influence the somatic state of the body. For example, the thought “I must always be better in everything” not only directly increases the load on the body due to chemical processes, but also through the activity determined by it, because a person, guided by such a thought, will direct excessive amounts of effort to achieve one or another goal , increasingly exhausting himself.

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The True Causes of Depression

The described depression arose in the patient not because of her thoughts and beliefs, but as a result of a combination of biological and psychological factors. However, with the onset of the disorder, it was her thinking that began to play a leading role and, in turn, independently determined the course of the disease.

Thus, the onset of the disease was clearly defined in the patient’s thoughts. One day, her classmates told her that due to the certificates they received, they were given an exemption from classes. Sally, who had no certificates, thought that these students were much more capable than her.

In a typical economics class, the professor asked students to complete all of his course requirements when Sally decided, “I can’t do the research.” The girl did not understand the first chapter of the textbook, which led her to despair: “If even the first chapter is unclear to me, how can I study further?!”

Then the condition only progressed. Sally began to have more and more depressing thoughts. She was completely overwhelmed by melancholy. Ah, she devoted all her attention to her studies. However, her body’s resources did not last long, and she felt that “everything was in vain.” Blaming herself for all her troubles, the girl felt complete hopelessness. She began to ask herself questions: “What is happening to me? These are not normal feelings, I shouldn't feel them. Why do I feel so bad? The girl isolated herself as much as possible from friends and acquaintances. She stopped playing sports, which gave her a feeling of success.

Eventually, the girl lost the desire to move, appetite and sleep, which is a direct indicator of depression. She was completely exhausted.

Of course, it is possible that she had a genetic predisposition to the disease, but her perceptions and behavior in various situations contributed to the exacerbation of her biological and psychological vulnerability, which, in turn, contributed to the onset of the disorder.

In this way, we were able to see how beliefs formed in childhood influenced the patient's current disorder.

Speaking about other disorders, we can observe a similar situation. Serious mental illnesses are most often caused by biochemical and genetic factors that cannot be corrected in the process of psychotherapy (regardless of the type). However, even in this case, cognitive psychotherapy is useful, as it allows one to increase the level of social adaptation of the individual. In the case of neurotic diseases, psychotherapy may well be an independent means of treatment.

Client conceptualization

This analysis of the situation is not done just like that. Conceptualizing or studying a patient's problem model is necessary, first of all, in order to determine the treatment method that will be most effective and appropriate in a given situation.

The therapist begins to engage in conceptualization from the first session. It identifies problematic behavior patterns and accompanying thoughts and beliefs. It primarily focuses on what is at the surface level, describing specific behaviors, problematic emotions, and automatic thoughts that are easiest to track. At the same time, he teaches the client himself to track these thoughts. Only later, in reviewing the client's history, does the therapist begin to describe the dysfunctional intermediate and core beliefs.

Having described the client's thoughts and beliefs, the therapist selects techniques to change them and begins to challenge them, while simultaneously adjusting the problem model. This conceptualization will continue throughout the therapeutic interaction.

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Negative attitudes that parents instill in their children

Almost everyone has prejudices that interfere with life in adulthood, but were formed while living with parents or relatives. Such principles are most firmly fixed in the mind, because a person has been guided by them for decades. You may recognize yourself in the following list:

my onion grief;
you are exactly like your father;
if you are not flexible, you will not communicate well with your peers;
You are so selfless, you are ready to give away everything you have.

The Nature of Beliefs

Beliefs are recognized as a worldview component; they represent stable ideas, ideals, principles, and value judgments that directly influence a person’s actions and actions. Unlike suggestion, which most often appears unexpectedly, spontaneously, and is not reflected, conviction is based on a person’s meaningful acceptance of any information or ideas as true, and their in-depth analysis.

The emergence of beliefs is facilitated by either knowledge or faith, but their formation does not occur automatically, but is reinforced by life experience, feelings, experiences, and attitude to what is happening. We come to conviction in something either independently or under the influence of others. For a statement to become a belief, it must have evidence and be repeated many times. For example, parents instill in their child the idea that a carefree life is possible only in childhood, and in adulthood everyone faces a difficult, hopeless struggle for survival. Is it necessary to explain what negative role such attitudes play, how they can cause harm in life if you don’t fight them and overcome them.

Beliefs are emotionally experienced, become the motives of a person’s behavior and determine his attitude to various spheres of reality. In many ways, they are subjective in nature, as an ideological result of the existence of a specific subject. Their “residence” is the deep layers of the human unconscious. Some beliefs get there in childhood, when critical thinking is not yet developed, and some - already in adulthood through the conscious adoption of a system of ideas.

The sources of beliefs are: parental family, educational institutions, friends and acquaintances, society as a whole, the media, self-education and books, life experience, and other factors. Their formation begins in early childhood, which is influenced by the way of life and traditions of the family. Mature beliefs appear in adolescence and adolescence, which is facilitated by knowledge, the thinking process, a critical attitude to reality, the formation of a worldview and an active life position. Often attitudes are laid down by people who are authoritative for a person, whose statements are not disputed due to their referentiality for a person.

Getting rid of destructive ideas

Sooner or later, parting words from within begin to significantly harm a person. He is content with the little he has. He loses the opportunity to move on, constrained by established boundaries. How to get rid of imaginary attitudes? The first step is to learn to notice the root of beliefs. For example: when a difficult situation arises, and you set yourself up to “I can’t”, you need to cast aside doubts and tell yourself “oh no, I will succeed.”

We should imagine the opposite of what consciousness imposes on us, trying to eradicate the negative. Of course, achieving success in a matter of days will not be possible. Sometimes it takes psychologists years to rid a person of principles that he has used for decades. Every new thought must be challenged. Who said that it is impossible to do what was planned? Why should everything happen this way and not according to another scenario? I build my own life - everything planned will happen according to my desires, any other development of events is unacceptable.

Ask a question

Working with Beliefs: Theory

No one owes anyone anything - once upon a time, with the study of this psychological axiom, the first attempts to approach the topic of human beliefs and methods of working with them began. This was done on a whim, clumsily, without understanding how beliefs are formed and what is needed to shake or correct them.

At first, everything seemed simple: if you carefully consider the issue, judge it, sort it out, everything will fall into place on its own. If logic says that no one owes anything to anyone, consciousness must absorb, accept and obey this. In practice, the consciousness demonstrated a fair amount of stubbornness - “Yeah, right now!” - and for some reason did not want to assimilate the new, more correct and logical attitude. And no attempts to artificially impose it on oneself brought results - the emotional reactions that arose time after time showed that faith in other people’s “debts” had not gone away.

This greatly undermined confidence in cognitive methods of psychological work. On the one hand, I personally have a clear predisposition to this, on the other hand, it was in the tendency to work “over my head” that for a long time I saw my own main weakness. The gap between advanced intellectual understanding and actual change seemed to indicate the fallacy, or at least the low effectiveness, of the rational approach in psychology and psychotherapy.

But gradually, with a deepening understanding of mental processes, it became clear that working with beliefs is a very effective tool, you just need to learn how to use it correctly. And the discoveries that occurred several years ago in the process of studying fundamental human attitudes led to a complete rethinking of the work of the mental apparatus and what exactly can be done in the format of working with beliefs.

Now it seems that beliefs are what the entire human world is made of. And to say that they underlie all psychological disorders and problems is a wild banality, since beliefs form not only internal conflict, but also the entire context in which it exists, and an even broader meta-context. At the same time, dividing beliefs into erroneous and correct (those that correspond to reality) is a very controversial model, since all beliefs are inherently erroneous - there are simply no correct beliefs.

NB: Not to be confused with the division of beliefs into rational and irrational in REBT - there this distinction is made to separate more capable attitudes from less capable ones, constructive from destructive ones. That is, rational beliefs in REBT are not those beliefs that in an absolute sense reflect reality, but those that can be dealt with more comfortably and effectively with this very reality.

Some elementary resentment contains a deliberately erroneous belief that the other person owes me something. If we remove this belief, the resentment will disappear. But even earlier, other beliefs shaped the very situation in which resentment became possible.

For example, offense would not be possible if there were no belief that the offender is a reasonable person like me. We will never be offended by a wolf who attacks us and wants to kill us, but we easily get offended by a person when he does not fulfill his promise. If we perceived all the people around us the same way we perceive wolves, there would be no offense. But in our minds hangs the conviction: “Man is not a wolf - you can come to an agreement with him.”

And at a deeper level, resentment is supported by the belief that a person has free will and the ability to control his behavior. Without the concept of free will, no interpersonal conflict could exist at all. And faith in the free will of the offender, in turn, implies the presence of faith that he generally belongs to the species homo sapiens. Man has free will. The offender is a person. This means that the offender has free will, and he is guilty of what he did because he could have done it differently. A true syllogism, built, however, on unprovable premises.

The superficial belief that the offender should have acted in a way that would have been better for me does not hang in the air, but rests on a multi-layered foundation of other beliefs. And if we are interested in defusing only this specific grievance, then it will be enough for us to debunk the belief in the existence of “debt”. But we could go further and, instead of fighting against particulars, reveal the fallacy of deeper beliefs, which would lead to the removal of all problems at the personal-psychological level. And if you dig even deeper, you can reach those levels of consciousness that practical psychology usually does not even try to encroach on.

Thus, considering false beliefs to be the source of psychological problems is an unacceptable understatement of the importance of beliefs and working with them. Cognitive psychology, however, perceives the topic of working with false beliefs at precisely this level. General ideas about oneself and the world are taken as a constant and are not subject to any doubt. The work is carried out at the most superficial level, and instead of reducing the overall mass of beliefs, efforts are aimed at restructuring them.

In the case of resentment and the underlying belief “a person should do as I want,” two vectors of work are possible at the cognitive level: 1) in place of the original dysfunctional belief, a new, more functional one is formed - “no one owes anyone anything”; 2) the original belief is completely dismantled, and the void that appears in its place is not filled with anything. In the first case, one faith is replaced by another, in the second, in the place of a false faith, a free space appears, a territory of ignorance. The first option is easier and faster to implement in practice, the second is more complex and subtle, but gives a deeper result.

But the number of psychological problems or the depth of mental disorders is directly dependent on the total mass of existing beliefs. Cognitive psychology, however, takes a different position and makes the number of problems dependent not on the number of beliefs in general, but on the number of dysfunctional beliefs. Hence the logic of therapeutic work aimed at reducing the number of erroneous irrational beliefs. This is done by restructuring the belief system, while their total mass remains unchanged.

However, even the most rational, practice-tested belief has an expiration date. A person with “good” functional beliefs is in a better position than someone with a large number of dysfunctional beliefs. But in the long run this has its negative consequences.

Let's say we take a walk around Moscow, holding a map of St. Petersburg in our hands. This will inevitably lead us to many problems and clashes. Cognitive psychotherapy and, in particular, REBT here suggests getting a map of Moscow and continuing your walk. This definitely makes sense! Having an accurate map in hand, we can accurately determine our location and easily reach any point of interest to us. This is the case when the volume of our beliefs has not changed, but they began to better reflect reality.

If we are only interested in moving from point A to point B - that is, if our task is to get to the city center and see Red Square as quickly as possible - then using a ready-made, correct map will be a simple and effective way to achieve what we want. That is, from a purely pragmatic point of view, replacing incorrect beliefs with correct ones is absolutely reasonable. If we want to get rid of resentment as quickly as possible, we will achieve this most quickly if we load the correct map into our internal navigator, which will say in black and white that the other person did not have to meet our expectations.

What if our goal is not Red Square, but a walk around Moscow visiting the sights? The right map will tell us where the nearest metro station is and which stop to get off at to be closest to the Kremlin. We went down to the metro, arrived, and here we are on the square - the task is completed! But at the same time, we were deprived of a walk, which in itself could have brought us much more joy than the Kremlin and the Square. On the other hand, a walk with the wrong map could be completely dull or even dangerous. The right card fulfills our desires, the wrong one is fraught with danger.

Is there even a correct map of Moscow? Or are we always dealing with a cast from the past? Even when navigating around the city, yesterday's traffic map is absolutely useless to us today. Is it possible to draw a map of life, or at least its individual layers, that remains relevant for more than one moment?

The gut screams: “Yes, of course!” But here we are not dealing with logic, but with the fact that our consciousness is simply designed this way - it is always looking for opportunities to simplify the task for itself and, instead of perceiving each moment as absolutely unique, it considers it through the prism of its pre-prepared maps. This is how the optimization of cognitive processes works, the side effect of which is a chronic lag from reality and endless painful encounters with the fact that the territory has already changed, but the map has not yet.

If changes to the existing map were constantly made by consciousness, everything would be fine. But in practice, we see that the picture of the world and the individual beliefs built into it are updated with great difficulty. Consciousness does its best to protect the already drawn contours in its picture of the world and would rather question reality itself than give up its dubious intellectual conquests. This is the effect that is usually described as the identification of consciousness with existing beliefs and ideas. A threat to the picture of the world is then perceived by consciousness as a threat to its own existence, which means it will defend itself to the last.

And if the optimization of cognitive processes is a necessary and completely healthy process, then excessive protection of existing beliefs is a clearly pathological process. In essence, this is what cognitive and all other psychotherapy tries to correct. However, this is usually done in a way that inevitably leads to a repetition of the same scenario. In the process of therapy, the patient overcomes internal barriers that prevent him from reconsidering his coordinate system, and in the place of the old one, a new one appears - healthier, but just as ossified and rapidly becoming outdated.

This situation is smoothed out only through instilling in the patient the habit of not clinging to his beliefs and being ready to question them at any time. This would be the ideal outcome of cognitive psychotherapy: a person with more or less adequate ideas about reality, capable and able to independently update his beliefs. But the ability to cut off the heads of the hydra over and over again is a solution to the problem at the same level at which the problem exists. But by working with beliefs, you can transfer consciousness to a new level of perception, in which the hydra’s ability to regenerate belief heads no longer has any meaning.

Returning to your walk around Moscow, instead of searching for the right map, why not try getting rid of the map altogether. What would such a walk look like?

If we do not give up the desire to visit Red Square, we will probably have to navigate the area by asking passers-by for help. And if we don’t come across a joker or disinformer, we will reach our goal even faster than if we had the most accurate map of Moscow in our hands. But that's not the point! Here we should pay attention to the interesting fact that the very desire to get to the main attraction arose in us thanks to another map - a tourist guide. What if we got rid of it too? What if goals brought from outside are replaced with goals coming from within?

In this case, the walk takes on a completely different character. Yes, we probably won’t be able to take photos for Instagram from the most famous places in Moscow and it will become much more difficult to brag about the execution of a pop cultural program. But what do we get in return? A unique walking route that will take us to those corners that are not described in any guidebook, a real live acquaintance with the city and, most importantly, no clashes or disappointments. If you don’t expect anything, if you are guided by the situation and circumstances, if at each crossroads you choose a direction according to your taste and mood, then what you get is an unclouded adventure.

Translating this back into psychological language, we can say that by reducing the overall volume of beliefs - by getting rid of the "right" and "wrong" cards - we proportionally reduce the number of psychological clashes and problems in our lives. Instead of the false sense of security that our beliefs give us, we get 360 degrees of freedom and the ability to navigate life based on our own feelings and preferences. We stop looking for pleasure where “Delicious!” is written in chalk on the fence, and begin to listen to our own taste. And finally, we begin to build relationships with people without a stone in our bosom - without false expectations and ideas about who owes what to whom.

In the comic story about the stupid, the smart and the wise, there was already a hint that the development of consciousness at only one of the stages is associated with the accumulation of knowledge and ideas. But already on the next one it occurs through the opposite process - through getting rid of what has been accumulated. And this is not at all the same as another restructuring of existing beliefs.

The wisdom that any person can gain is achieved not through the formation of a correct picture of the world and the most adequate and functional ideas, but through the discovery of the unviability of this entire life strategy with pre-prepared answers. Wisdom begins where ideas end. And if the smart one says: “I know,” the wise man replies, “I don’t have the slightest idea!”

And if we translate all this into the plane of healthy pragmatism, then the strategy of getting rid of beliefs (instead of restructuring them) leads to a general increase in the quality of life. What cognitive psychology is hopelessly fighting for, endlessly adjusting beliefs and trying to create the most accurate and functional map, is achieved through bringing consciousness to a higher level and realizing the conventions of all maps without exception.

There is no difference between the belief that people owe me and the belief that no one owes me anything. The first will create some problems, the second - others. By working with beliefs at this level, we are simply choosing the negative consequences that we have to deal with. And only after realizing that both of these beliefs are equally false, we hang in the void... and finally find solid ground under our feet.

Attention! Under no circumstances should the idea of getting rid of beliefs be accepted as a direct guide to action! An indiscriminate fight against false beliefs will not give the expected results, but will only lead to the birth of another REPTILoid. Working with beliefs requires great caution, otherwise a person slides into destructive nihilism and, instead of the promised wisdom, receives degradation.

Replay the situation

Sometimes they resort to trance or in-depth study of thinking in order to return to the origins at the moment when a person formed a parting message. For example, parents often taught that those who have wealth are definitely swindlers. You should find a refutation of this principle, because even among your friends there are many individuals who managed to make a fortune with their own brilliant mind. Another example: “My mother considered all men to be crooks,” this means that she was simply unlucky to meet the one.

How to get rid of negative beliefs?

Thinking (and its truth for oneself personally) is formed according to established stereotypes and patterns of society, which in turn are formed in the process of upbringing, habitat, social environment, traditions, religion, etc.

Based on these stereotypes and patterns, beliefs are created, that is, what we believe in and what we accept as truth (the usual norm of life). This is due to the fact that our repeated thoughts are recorded on neural networks, which become stronger and more fundamental with each repetition. That is, our dominant thoughts (repeatedly repeated) become for us a belief (a habitual thought - the truth). Beliefs become an integral part of our thinking - and are embedded in the subconscious.

There is no area in our life in which a person does not have certain views and beliefs, many of which are developed in early childhood and influence behavior and life later. More often this happens through an emotional recording in memory.

That is, once upon a time an event occurred that somehow evoked a fairly strong emotion in the child (some words of the parents, some action, a prohibition, etc.). The child remembered this as a “bad” state, having experienced resentment, fear, alienation, rejection... The subconscious mind recorded this information and will henceforth avoid repetition in every possible way - since “bad” is recorded in the memory. And now the child is already an adult, this event or words no longer have any meaning, importance, significance - and the subconscious continues to protect the child from the “bad” state.

Example: a child took the initiative, inspired by the process, with a smile on his face and heart, runs up to his mother and says: “Mom, let me help you!” Mom is in a hurry, she has no time, she answers sharply (but not out of malice, but due to fatigue, lack of time, etc.): “Don’t bother, there’s no time anyway, go to your room!” The child was refused a sincere offer of help... The child does not understand that his mother is busy, he understands that he was refused. She goes into her room in tears, at which time a recording occurs in the subconscious: “When you offer help, you disturb people...” If this is repeated several times, the recording becomes the truth. A child grows up and consciously wants to help people, but in the subconscious there is a conviction: “To help means to interfere, to bring discomfort into the life of another person” - and the person is already conscious, logically he does not want to bring discomfort - which means, naturally, he does not want to help.

We rarely doubt already formed views, or rather, we don’t even think about when they were formed - we simply live and act according to them. If in childhood you repeatedly repeated the phrase that it is not easy to earn money, that the rich are not honest, that you need to work hard to make capital - this has become the norm, the truth, the truth, a habitual thought for you and will persist throughout your life - if the belief is not changed . And no matter what you do and no matter how you understand with reason, logic, consciousness that this is not so, your subconscious controls you - which means you will act according to your deepest convictions. And this is not because the beliefs correspond to the Universal truth, it is because for you this is the norm of thinking, recorded in the neural network of the brain. The subconscious will control your behavior, and you will find repeated confirmation of your thoughts - find a job where you work a lot and get little, meet rich people who earned their capital through dishonest means, etc. But at the same time, there is another side of the coin in the world, there are people who work 4 hours for pleasure and get money, there are rich people who create colossal improvements and receive encouragement for this, etc.

What you believe is what you get

And you believe in what is familiar to you from childhood - it is in childhood that the main set of beliefs is formed. Afterwards, beliefs are formed according to your life experience, and you act according to the underlying beliefs, or, having received a single negative experience, you create new negative beliefs without explaining to yourself the reason for the “failure”...

Many people have repeatedly used their own beliefs against themselves. By carefully analyzing your problems, you may notice that many of them stem from incorrect or limited views. Therefore, when experiencing difficulties in your personal or professional sphere, analyze your views, find limiting beliefs that contradict your true desires.

What to do? How to change your beliefs...

Step #1

Choose a time for your loved one, and honestly admit to yourself your existing beliefs in the area that does not suit you. Write down all the existing ones, choose those that bother you and create a conflict with your desires and goals.

In finance , examples:

“If I borrow money from someone, that person will have to make ends meet because of me”;
“All opportunities to make good money have already been taken”;
“It’s hard to make money”;
“All successful people are selfish, but I don’t want to be selfish”;
“To succeed, I will have to give up too much”;
“I can’t earn an income doing what I love”...

Health:

“Everyone is sick”;
“I get infected with something all the time”;
“My body is so fragile”;
“Disease is much stronger than health”;
“Only when I’m sick do people love me”;
“When I am sick, I can rest”;
“Those who are sick receive attention, care and are not responsible for anything.”

In personal life:

“It’s impossible to meet the other half”;
“I am not worthy of the chosen image”;
“There is no such thing as lasting love”;
“Relationships are an obligation and a violation of personal freedom”;
"They are all the same";
“I always meet those who take advantage of me”;
“I always ruin relationships”;
“I'm afraid that they will abandon me”;
“Quarrels and conflicts in the family are normal; it is impossible to create truly harmonious relationships for years”...

You should understand that no one knows your thoughts and beliefs better than you yourself. There is no other person who can read your thoughts and correct them. You can turn to a psychologist who will help you identify your negative beliefs, erase them and write down new ones, but this is only possible with your help - that is, you need to turn to a psychologist for help - and not wait for them to disappear on their own...

What you believe in is your reality in the material world.

Beliefs are real to you... until you are convinced otherwise...

You can be convinced of the opposite only by identifying negative beliefs, casting doubt on them and finding existing confirmation of the opposite - as an example of reality... Repeat repeatedly - creating a new neural network in the brain - with consistent, long-term work - your truth will change...

Once the subconscious mind perceives a belief or idea, whether it is true or not, it will begin to methodically generate thoughts that support that belief.

Example: You unconsciously (subconsciously) believe that establishing a relationship with a person of the opposite sex is not easy. What your subconscious mind does is work to defend your truth: as soon as you meet an interesting person, your brain begins: “He’s probably not that good at all,” “It’s not worth trying,” “He’ll never be interested in me.” Moreover, your brain, which is ingrained with the belief that “it is very difficult to form lasting relationships,” will be a magnet to attract situations that confirm this belief, and ignore or even push away situations that prove the opposite. The brain has the ability to distort your perception of reality to align it with your subconscious mind . For the brain, it is the subconscious that is true—not the conscious. Consciousness is a resource for the subconscious, that is, a tool aimed at actions that confirm the correctness of subconscious beliefs.

Step #2

The solution to your problem is you yourself. It's a paradox, but it's true. The conflict does not exist outside, but inside you. You consciously desire, however, but you commit actions that contradict your true desires. By changing your subconscious beliefs, you change your reality.

You believe that “building harmonious relationships is difficult, difficult, impossible.” You will avoid new acquaintances or distance yourself from existing ones - accepting their reality and accepting your own powerlessness to change them.

By changing the belief to “a harmonious relationship is the only truth, it is wonderful, it is possible, it is the only true relationship that exists, it is simple, you just have to open up.” By writing this belief into your subconscious, by believing in it, you will change your perception of relationships. It is harmonious relationships and the ease of creating them that will become truth, norm, truth for you.

Now replace all your negative beliefs with the opposite ones, those that you need to achieve your goals and corresponding changes in life.

Inspiration and enthusiasm are an incoming feeling, so determination and intentionality are important. After just a couple of days of work, your brain will begin to persuade you to stop doing this - convincing you of its uselessness and waste of time. But if you have made a decision, act purposefully, I repeat, from one to three months, even if you have to force yourself.

When a person begins to play sports or learn another skill, he starts from scratch, in childhood it is simple - since pure consciousness, as he grows up - it is more difficult, since there are many distracting things, thoughts, etc. But if a person decides to learn, he goes to her and definitely learns - if he doesn’t give up, it doesn’t matter what it is - tennis, dancing, playing musical instruments, skiing, driving, foreign languages, doing business or anything - something else. New information arrives (desire, goal), the brain assimilates it as necessary, then accepts it, reflects, expands its views and receives additional information. All this ingrains a new neural network and after some time you already master a new skill... Now you speak Spanish fluently, maneuver a car, play the guitar - and you can further improve your skills...

The same algorithm works in beliefs, with the only difference being that it is important to erase the old neural network by identifying the moment at which the negative belief was born - that is, the reason for its appearance... In this case, the effect is many times stronger and occurs in a shorter time. This is exactly what a psychologist is for.

Since it is difficult to plant seeds in asphalted soil, it takes a long time to wait for germination (this is exactly what happens when you change beliefs without preparing the soil). A conflict of two beliefs arises and the brain, of course, chooses the old, familiar and familiar...

Step #3

Realize your power. Realize what you are capable of. Take a belief that is not particularly important to you, change it to its opposite, and repeat it for a few minutes every morning for 21 days. For example, you drink tea and think it is healthy, change your belief to: “Drinking tea is useless and harmful to health.” And see what happens in 21 days (but you need to do it every day with faith, explaining to your brain the reality of belief).

After this experiment, you can change any beliefs, you have the power to do this, which means you have the power to change your life.

Why might you need a psychologist?

Most of our beliefs were formed in childhood; in adult life we do not always remember or realize them. This is why you need a psychologist. As a specialist, a psychologist will identify all your subconscious negative beliefs that create blocks and restrictions, and then change them, not those that will lead you to the desired result .

Step #4

Don't overload yourself. Work with the new belief one at a time. If you created two or four new beliefs in some area - give it time to take root, germinate, take root in the subconscious, from a month to three - work consciously - after that it will become habitual. Embrace other beliefs.

This is how you received all your knowledge, who plays sports, who drives a car, rides a bike, skis, skates - all these were initially your beliefs that you are capable of this. You did not question the fact that you would learn to read, write, count, etc.

Whoever has limiting beliefs (received fear, negative emotions) - that is, the reason why the subconscious mind protects you regarding, for example, swimming - a person will not swim until he changes his belief, he simply will not force himself to do it, because the subconscious tells him about the danger. Why would a person deliberately expose himself to danger? That's right - there's no reason for it, so he will avoid it in every possible way... But it is possible to change all beliefs.

Our world is dualistic, there is always an opposite, and your thoughts are no exception...

The Importance of Visualization

To get rid of limiting beliefs, the list of which includes the topic of friendship, love, career, it is necessary to reprogram the consciousness. A visual approach is best. For example: you associate negativity with a gray, rainy day, lilac blossoms or a big storm at sea. Verbal arguments may be powerless in the face of visual symbols.

When thoughts that cause discomfort arise in your head along with association pictures, let them go and imagine only what you want.

Method from NLP: “Meta-Yes” and “Meta-No”

Simple steps can change your thinking to a positive one:

It is necessary to identify the limiting principle and rate it on a scale from 1 to 10.
Imagine it as a physical object - a tent, a stone, a billboard with an inscription.
Choose any thing to which you say a firm no. For example, would you sell your soul?
Practice saying this firm refusal without shouting.
Then return to the limiting principle to which you have given physical form and say your Meta-Net. Do this until it is far beyond the horizon.
Next, imagine the person you always say “yes” to. Mom, dad, child, husband, sister.
With your Meta-Yes, lure the positive attitude so that it comes closer.
Give this “yes” a physical meaning and fix it in your head.
Check how old the understanding is still relevant using the same scale from 1 to 10.
Repeat the above steps if necessary.

Pathological beliefs or interpretations of events

Describe the content, type of onset and degree of persistence of any pathological beliefs:

• in relation to the environment - for example, ideas of relationship, false interpretations or delusions (the patient claims that he is the object of persecution, or some very special relationship, or experiment);

• in relation to one’s own body (for example, the patient has ideas or delusions of changing the shape of the body);

• in relation to one’s own personality (for example, there may be delusions of passivity, influence, mind reading or interference of someone else’s will). Pathological experiences associated with the environment, with one’s own body or personality

Environment: hallucinations and illusions - auditory, visual, olfactory, gustatory or tactile; feeling of “familiarity” or “unfamiliarity”; derealization;

Body: feeling of dying, pain or other disturbances in bodily sensations, somatic (bodily) hallucinations.

Personality: depersonalization; awareness of a disturbance in the mechanism of thinking or a feeling of blocking thoughts or slowing down their flow; autochthonous ideas (Wernicke’s ideas) - so-called “made”, inspired thoughts (the patient perceives his own thoughts as alien, caused by the action of some external force, etc.

It is necessary to describe the source, content, degree of brightness, liveliness of such experiences and their other characteristics. In addition, it should be indicated at what time and under what circumstances they usually appear (for example: at night; when the patient is alone; when he cannot sleep; on awakening).

Cognitive functions

In each specific case, it is necessary to assess cognitive functions, correlating them with the general level of intelligence. If the patient is relatively young and there is no reason to suspect an organic brain disease, it is enough to carry out the tests mentioned below for orientation, attention and ability to concentrate, as well as check the state of memory. However, if a decrease in the level of cognitive functioning or an organic brain disease is suspected, an in-depth study should be carried out.

Orientation

If there is reason to doubt the patient's orientation, record his answers to questions about his name, identity, location, and time of day and date.

Attention and ability to concentrate

How easy is it to get and hold the patient's attention? Can he concentrate? How easily distracted? To test attention and the ability to concentrate, ask them to list the days of the week or months in reverse order, or perform a simple arithmetic operation in their mind (for example, subtract 25 from 132), or sequentially subtract seven from a hundred (write down the answers, as well as the time spent to complete the task), answers to questions about his name. Ask the patient to repeat a series of numbers in ascending order and another series in descending order (say the numbers evenly at one-second intervals); record how many numbers were played in each direction.

Memory

Memory is tested by comparing the patient's memories of his life with information received from other people, as well as by identifying gaps or inconsistencies in his memories. Particular attention should be paid to memory for recent events (eg, admission to hospital, facts related to the period of stay in the department). In case of selective memory loss for certain episodes or periods, or for recent or more distant events, a detailed description should be given, and the patient’s attitude towards his own forgetfulness and towards those events that he is not able to remember should be especially carefully studied. Note any signs of confabulation or false memories. If the patient confabulates, does he do so spontaneously - or only in response to the suggestion contained in the question asked? Retrograde or anterograde amnesia associated with head trauma or epileptic phenomena should also be described in detail.

If there is reason to suspect memory impairment, record verbatim the patient's attempts to repeat the name and address (or other similar information) immediately after hearing it and 5 minutes later.

The task described below assesses free and associative memories separately. With its help, it will often be possible to establish satisfactory learning abilities in cases where other diagnostic techniques do not work. It also allows us to identify perseverations and confabulations. The patient is asked to repeat in turn the names given to him: flower (“Flower - Narcissus; repeat, please: “narcissus”), color (“Color - blue; repeat, please: “blue”), | city (“City—Novosibirsk. Krasnoyarsk; repeat, please”), etc. Continuing the list, it includes other names (for example, car brands, days of the week, etc.). The check is carried out after 3-5 minutes, first without any prompts, and then (if necessary) after repeating the name of each section (flower, color, city, etc.).

Intelligence

The expected level of intelligence can be established based on medical history, general knowledge, and also from the education and work record received. In the absence of such information, a simple check of the level of knowledge and ability to absorb information should be carried out, along with an assessment of existing experience and interests. An indirect indicator of intellectual level can be academic success, determined by testing reading, spelling and arithmetic skills. More objective data (in the form of an IQ of 10) can be obtained using the Mill Hill scale or Raven's progressive matrices. The discrepancy between the scores obtained on these tests and the level of intelligence assumed by the results of literacy and numeracy assessments gives reason to suspect a violation of the ability to assimilate new knowledge.