Analysis Of Dr. David Burns 'Feelings Are Not Facts'

Dr. David Burns concluded that, “Feelings are not facts”. This statement makes sense right? I asked myself at the beginning of this assignment, if this statement is true, then why do we spend so much time dwelling on our feelings as though they are our truths? When we break laws and face the judicial system, only facts are considered to in deciding our fate. Our system doesn’t make judgments based on emotions they base them on facts. As humans so many of us grow up believing our feelings are facts. This possibly contributes to why we have a growing population of people with depression, anxiety, and other emotional disturbances. Our focus should be on teaching well-being and ways to correct cognitive distortions. Imagine if we implemented these
He teaches us that as human beings we all aspire to be happy and feel a sense of well-being. Dr.Seligman points out that learned helplessness, a state when people are confronted with events that they can’t control and feel that nothing they do matters, can be reversed. He gives us a tool to measure well being versus misery, which is PERMA. P is our positive emotions and how we view our past and look towards our future. E is for engagement, doing things that we enjoy and being one with the music. R focuses on our relationships as we all need someone to share our experiences with. M is finding a meaning and purpose that is greater than us. A refers to accomplishing something and feeling the pride that goes with mastery. When the model is used, we have the ability to flourish in our lives. Though flourishing is not to be misinterpreted as walking around looking happy all the time. What it does mean is that while we cannot avoid struggles or traumas, we do have the power and control to manage how we deal with those events. Dr.Seligman mentions a simple task in the youtube video, of writing down three things every night that you are thankful and how this can have an overall effect on your happiness and gratitude. Recognizing the positives in our lives as small as they may seem can change our outlook with
My initial thought was, “I am a positive person,” yet after completing these assignments I was forced to rethink my own patterns of thinking. The ABCDE technique of self-disputation was far easier to use for me because it focused on picking an event that happened to me each day. I was able to pin point an experience quickly and identify some of my thinking distortions and how my internal voice influenced my thoughts. Using this method I was able to recognize the antecedents of my behavior and my responses to the particular event at hand. By writing down the Adversity- the event (what happened), Beliefs- my automatic feelings, (how I felt at the moment & my inner dialogue) Consequences-recognize my feelings, (what I said or did) Disputation-my routine belief, (identifying the reason I feel the way I do and rationalizing it), and finally Energization- (after disputing my inner dialogue and feelings I am able to change my reaction towards the event that occurred). Completing this assignment each day and using this technique I was able to change my negative thoughts by changing my process of thinking. More importantly though, I recognized that the events alone did not prompt dispute but rather my interpretation of them did. If I take more time to process, dispute, and evaluate the cause for the conflict/event I can change my thinking from a pessimistic viewpoint to that of a healthier one with a