CBT for Performance Anxiety

Examples of Tom's online exercises

Tom's Thought Challenge Exercises

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Tom's Stress Log Example - 1

In this Stress Log Tom reports how he felt and describes some of the things going on in his mind over and over again while he was hoping to "perform" sexually.

Tom has challenged the thoughts in blue

Click on them to see his Thought Challenge exercises

Comments:

Previous bad experiences and assumptions about himself make Tom self-conscious and constantly pay attention to himself, rather than to the external situation. Our core beliefs and emotional state determine which situations we perceive.

"Predicting the future" is a common type of negative thought. Seeing the future so negatively makes Tom feel down and tense and prevents him from opening his mind to the possibility of good things happening.

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Tom's Stress Log Example - 2

This Stress Log is just one instance of a situation that happens very frequently to Tom. He describes the kind of feeling and related negative thinking he often has when talking to Melanie.

Comments:

Tom usually feels hurt after talking to Melanie. It is not what Melanie says, diurectly, but how Tom interprets what she says that hurts him. Therapists often inquire about the exact words that were used in a conversation in order to better understand facts, before they become distorted by the negative interpretation of a client under emotional distress.

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Tom's Stress Log Example - 3

In this Stress Log, Tom writes about his feeling and related negative thoughts he had when Melanie called to tell him she was going to be working late.

Comments:

Tom has learned to differentiate between negative emotions and negative thoughts. He used to say he felt “cheated”, or that he felt like a “failure”. Now he knows that being cheated is an idea or a thought that causes intense feelings. He knows that it can be challenged.