Cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT, is a fairly effective treatment for some mental health concerns, especially depression, anxiety, and substance abuse disorders. Focus is on increasing awareness of our thinking patterns, then working to replace unproductive/negative/inaccurate thoughts with more useful patterns.
There is a huge list of “cognitive distortions“, or thinking errors, that we talk about in treatment. One of my personal favorites to focus on when dealing with depression (and, often, criminal thinking) is selective perception – seeing only what we want to see, putting outsized focus on certain events while discounting contradicting evidence, putting too much importance on small happenings. It’s the reason people discard things that don’t fit with their previous beliefs. If I believe I’m a terrible person and everything sucks, I’m more likely to focus on the things in life that are hard and that fit with that belief.
The best song I’ve found lately to represent this is an oldie (but a goodie!) by Say Anything, called The Futile, seen below (lyrics here).
Great example of selective perception! We’ll be back next week with more of music and psychology!
***If you have a concept you’d like to know more about, or a song you’d like featured, send me a message!***
theshamedynamic 