Psychiatr. pro Praxi, 2010; 11(4): 167-169

Method of self-depreciating and self-supportive letter within cognitive behavioral therapy

Mgr.Roman Pešek

Národní monitorovací středisko pro drogy a drogové závislosti, Úřad vlády ČR, Praha

The paper focuses on the psychotherapeutic method of Self-depreciating and Self-supportive Letter. The method has been developed by

the author of the paper and its development has been inspired by methods of cognitive and emotional restructuring standardly used within

cognitive behavioral approach in psychotherapy. The method is based on a complex of automatic negative thoughts concerning various

life aspects of the client. The complex of these thoughts is written by the client in form of a self-depreciating letter; after that and by way

of systematic process using e.g. rational questions, the self-depreciating letter is transformed into a self-supportive one. The method can be

used as further possibility for psychotherapeutic work with clients suffering from anxious and depressive disorders containing frequent and

generalized self-depreciating cognitions. The paper includes detailed description for carrying out of this method as well as one case study

for better understanding of the method. Further testing of the effectiveness and of other aspects of the method in practise is needed.

Keywords: cognitive behavioral therapy, cognitive restructuring, emotional restructuring, anxious depressive disorder, case study

Published: December 1, 2010  Show citation