Read the following:
The use of self-monitoring was illustrated in a program with a 25-year-old housewife who complained of obsessive thoughts about cancer of the breast and stomach (Fredrickson, 1975). She was very upset about these frequent thoughts which appeared to have become worse over a six-year period prior to treatment. The client was instructed to monitor the frequency of the obsessive thoughts while at home. Keeping a daily tally of the thoughts was apparently associated with a rapid reduction in their frequency from a high of 13 per day to about 2 per day. The client was instructed to monitor her thoughts in a more detailed fashion by recording the time of the thought, what she was doing at that time, the specific content of each thought, and so on. When this more detailed assessment procedure began, thoughts decreased further. The thoughts did not recur up to four months after treatment.
I'm going to try this. Anyone else want to join me?? It's almost like self monitoring is an attention getting technique. The more she addressed it on paper the less it occured. Wierd. Kind of like dealing with a crying baby.
Ken
The use of self-monitoring was illustrated in a program with a 25-year-old housewife who complained of obsessive thoughts about cancer of the breast and stomach (Fredrickson, 1975). She was very upset about these frequent thoughts which appeared to have become worse over a six-year period prior to treatment. The client was instructed to monitor the frequency of the obsessive thoughts while at home. Keeping a daily tally of the thoughts was apparently associated with a rapid reduction in their frequency from a high of 13 per day to about 2 per day. The client was instructed to monitor her thoughts in a more detailed fashion by recording the time of the thought, what she was doing at that time, the specific content of each thought, and so on. When this more detailed assessment procedure began, thoughts decreased further. The thoughts did not recur up to four months after treatment.
I'm going to try this. Anyone else want to join me?? It's almost like self monitoring is an attention getting technique. The more she addressed it on paper the less it occured. Wierd. Kind of like dealing with a crying baby.
Ken
