[Jungian Cognitive Functions] Cognitive Therapy

[LightSun]

I will first start with Dr. David D. Burns and what he describes as the essence of cognitive therapy in his book
Feeling Good, (1980). "The first principle of cognitive therapy is that all your moods are created by your "cognitions," or thoughts...You feel the way you do right now because of the thoughts you are thinking at this moment."

"The second principle is that when you are feeling depressed (or any other negative emotion), your thoughts are dominated by a pervasive negativity...What is even worse-you'll come to believe things really are as bad as you imagine them to be.

"The third principle...Our research has documented that the negative thoughts which cause your emotional turmoil nearly always contain gross distortions...thinking is a major cause of your suffering.

 

[LightSun]

This was a talk with another friend in discussing these cognitive dynamics:

I agree with everything you said in principle. It is a matter of semantics at most.
(1)." One's perceptions, including misconceptions, will determine the nature and degree of emotional turmoil." The cognitive theorists would agree. There are different variables at play. I however equate emotional rationality with
lessened precipitations of what have been called emotional triggers. The more susceptible one is to external
triggers, the less I would define their mental health as sound.

(2). "...but the event sets it off." Again this is where you and I are in agreement but at odds with hard core rigid proponents of cognitive therapy.
I believe in balance. I also believe in a balance and a mixture with the internal world of perceptions alongside real world external triggers as defining our emotional distresses in life. I also believe we are interrelated and thus can affect each other either for the good or the ill par based on our intentionality of "spirit," if you will. I must confess to having revamped my theory as a younger adolescent or man when it came in determining what exactly is reality?

(3). "The event is the cause..." This is where semantics come into play. I prefer to call them triggers rather than use the word cause, because it is still based in large part on our own rudimentary and internal perceptions.