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Dr. Russ Morfitt

Mindfulness is based on this idea: We can let worrying thoughts and feelings come and go.
Mental Health

Catching the Third Wave

How Learn to Live Delivers CBT: Part 7  Should we teach mindfulness skills in our programs? We talked about this several years ago when I was writing the initial content for our first program for Social Anxiety. At that time, there was not enough research to support using mindfulness. But soon research on mindfulness began to emerge. Within a few years, there was enough research to show it helps. So we were happy to add it.  Nowadays, mindfulness is seen as the third wave of CBT. The first wave was behavioral strategies like facing fears. Then cognitive strategies were introduced…
Dr. Russ Morfitt
September 6, 2023
Thinking about what we fear can help us become unafraid.
Stress & Anxiety

Don’t Even Think About That 

How Learn to Live Delivers CBT: Part 6 Many times we hear "Don't even think about that!" This is to avoid a bad thing happening or feeling troubled. But we know thinking something does not make it happen. That is magical thinking.  In fact, the opposite is true. Thinking about what we fear can help us become unafraid. This is called imaginal exposure. With it, we think on purpose about things we worry about happening. Some people have used virtual reality to help imagine feared things. Research shows imagining bad outcomes can sometimes work as well as virtual reality.  We…
Dr. Russ Morfitt
August 9, 2023
There are few things as exciting as seeing someone stare their fears in the face until they no longer live with that fear.
Stress & Anxiety

Getting Back Up When You Fall Down

How Learn to Live Delivers CBT: Part 5 If you fall off the horse, you better get right back on that horse.  Why do they say that anyway? Have you ever actually fallen off a horse? I have many times. Sometimes it really hurts. But the reason to get back on that horse is because, once you start avoiding that horse, you risk a lifetime of continuing to fear the horse. I also like to say that if it's a little too scary to immediately get on that horse, you might want to at least try getting on a smaller…
Dr. Russ Morfitt
July 11, 2023
Learn to identify and examine your thoughts
Mental Health

Wait, upon further examination, things look different…

How Learn to Live Delivers CBT: Part 4 Thoughts affect our feelings Around here, we put a lot of consideration into our approach to thoughts. Our cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) programs include the idea that your cognitions (thoughts) — the C in CBT—affect how we feel and that idea can change our worlds. That realization was central to the cognitive revolution that was led by pioneers like Aaron Beck and Albert Ellis. So, their ideas are integrated into our programs. To examine our thoughts, we must first identify them. We introduced the sentence stems I created several years ago (e.g.,…
Dr. Russ Morfitt
June 27, 2023
Changing automatic negative thinking traps with CBT
Mental Health

When the simplest answer is the most memorable and compelling

How Learn to Live Delivers CBT: Part 3 When I was working in an inpatient mental health unit, I began an effort to focus groups on evidence-based cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). We needed a topic that busy nurses could lead on Sunday nights. We picked one that was simple, but very useful: automatic negative thinking traps (ANTs).  Many group members were new to the concept of ANTs, but I noticed that people remembered it. Even if they forgot everything else, ANTs stuck.  What ANTs Really Are ANTs aren't the same as the emotion-causing thoughts, like I'm going to fail this…
Dr. Russ Morfitt
May 9, 2023
Learn about what really causes your feelings and what you can do about them.
Stress & Anxiety

Breaking Down Emotions and Facing Negative Feelings

How Learn to Live Delivers CBT: Part 2 Have you ever wondered why you are having a pleasant emotion like happiness or peace? Most have not. We just accept those emotions and move on. But everything changes when we are feeling discouraged, fearful, or angry. I'd like to share with you a CBT strategy that has been helpful to many people who face negative feelings. I call it the STEPP model. One of the key concepts of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is the idea that our thoughts affect how we feel. Many people struggling with depression or anxiety say that…
Dr. Russ Morfitt
April 3, 2023