Agoraphobia Thought Replacement: Alternative to a Lobotomy

The top two ways to get rid of thoughts that contribute to agoraphobia are:

1) Get a lobotomy.

2) Practice a cognitive technique called thought replacement.

Thought replacing is referred to as "cognitive restructuring" by most psychologists and is the most common form of cognitive therapy for agoraphobia. Thought replacement for agoraphobia is basically just trading your old irrational, anxiety-producing thoughts for more rational ones. The process is fairly simple and you can practice doing this at home by yourself without the supervision of a psychologist.

After recovering from agoraphobia and studying psychology through graduate school, I've read quite a few books on how cognitive therapy is used to treat anxiety disorders and agoraphobia. Nearly every published version of thought replacing contains three similar steps, so I have created my version which should be easy to remember. I call it the three R’s:

1) Record
2) Replace
3) Rehearse

First, record your irrational thoughts. Being able to recognize your irrational thinking is the first step towards changing it. This means tuning into your self-talk on a regular basis and doing some journaling. Each time you notice your anxiety level rising, ask yourself what thoughts are behind the anxiety and write them down. Record each thought as a one or two line belief statement.

Example: "I have to be liked and accepted by everyone to be a worthwhile person. Since Joe does not seem to like me, there must be something wrong with me."

After journaling your agoraphobia producing thoughts for about a week, prioritize your top seven to ten thought statements to replace. Pick the thoughts that arise the most frequently or cause the most anxiety. If you can, decide why they qualify as irrational and categorize them according to the ten categories discussed above:

 The above example falls into the categories of rigid expectations and personalizing. (Some irrational thoughts may fall into more than one category).

Once you have identified and recorded your irrational thoughts, replace each irrational thought statement with a rational alternative.

Here are some good examples of thought replacement:

Irrational thought statement 1: “If I mess up one audition it means I am a terrible actor.” (catastrophic thinking)

Replacement 1: “Everyone has an off day sometimes. If I mess up at this audition I’ll do better at the next one and show them what I can really do.”

Irrational thought statement 2: “If I don’t get this promotion at then I am a total failure in my career.” (black-or-white thinking).

Replacement 2: “If I don’t get this promotion I will be disappointed, but I still have a pretty good job.:

Irrational thought statement 3: "“If my article has even one mistake in it, I don’t deserve a compliment no matter how good it was overall.” (magnifying the negative)

Replacement 3: “Despite the one mistake, I wrote a great article and I am glad to receive a compliment.”

You get the idea.

After you have made a list of replacement thoughts, rehearse each replacement thought on a regular basis. Keep a copy of your replacement thoughts at all times. Pull out your list of replacement thoughts at least ten times per day and review each one. You can also use these statements as affirmations when you are doing breathing or muscle relaxation exercises. Once you have learned to identify irrational thoughts for what they are and create replacement thoughts that are more rational, confront your irrational thinking in the moment it occurs. Each time you catch yourself thinking an irrational thought that you have rehearsed, immediately say the replacement thought to yourself several times.

Thought replacement may not reverse all of your irrational thought patterns overnight, but if you practice this over a few months your thought patterns will be retrained and will not produce so much anxiety. Remember, cognitive therapy is most effective with agoraphobia when combined with behavioral therapy (like cue-controlled relaxation, systematic desensitization, and flooding).

Article Source: http://www.agoraphobia.net

Stephen Price is a recovered agoraphobic with a master’s degree in psychology. His informational website on agoraphobia featuring a free newsletter can be found at: www.agoraphobia.ws

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