Saturday, September 23, 2023

Workbooks to Help You With Self Talk and Other CBT Tools

Not everyone has access to quality mental health services. As such, it is important that we have, for ourselves and others, self help tools to help us work through some of lives more challenging problems, and to help us grown and change. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy oriented workbooks are a great way of working through (non-clinical, or perhaps best said sub-clinical) depression, anxiety and other mental health issues.

Please note--I am NOT suggesting these INSTEAD of therapy or medication. If you are suffering from severe anxiety, depression or any other mental health concerns that are greatly impacting your functioning, please seek help. If you are thinking of harming yourself or others, please seek help.

However, if you have no access and if your condition is not serious enough to seek therapy or medication, or if you are hoping to grow and change in key areas, workbooks can be part of your self help toolbox.

Last spring, I actually had an assignment in my graduate cognitive therapy course in which students selected and worked through a CBT oriented workbook. In my course evaluations, seven or eight students highlighted that work as one of the most important things they did in their whole graduate social work program. Wow. I have also used these as supplements to my work with clients, suggesting they work though one of these in order to assist our work together.

Using these workbooks are a great way to work on your self talk--the topic of the last several of my blog posts. Some of these workbooks are related to specific conditions, while others are more general tools to help you with your mental health and resiliency. Try one, and let me know how they work.

In no particular order: