Psychiatria pre prax 5–6/2010

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

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.