The irrational beliefs of Aaron Beck

According to the Cognitive Theory postulated by the psychologist Aaron Beck, people suffer due to the personal interpretation they make about the events and not because of the events themselves.

Contents

• Beck's irrational thoughts
• Irrationality is a human thing
• Irrational vs rational thoughts
• Rational beliefs, how are they
• How to eliminate our irrational thoughts

Beck's irrational thoughts

For Beck there are some general assumptions on which certain irrational beliefs that generate discomfort and depressive thoughts are based, and they are the following:

• Rules of conduct: for example thinking: "I always have to act correctly".
• Basic assumptions: like: "if I'm wrong, people won't believe in me anymore".
• Nuclear beliefs: of the type: "I am incompetent".

According to Beck, these ideas or beliefs influence affective states (and modify them). Some of these ideas are responsible for the genesis of certain psychological disorders such as anxiety or depression.

Thus, the development of a disorder is supported by the cognitive vulnerability and depressive thoughts suffered by the individual. Said vulnerability is the result of the operation of certain schemes or patterns of inadequacy, failure or loss..

Such schemas are represented by dysfunctional attitudes and thoughts such as "if someone I love doesn't love me, I'm not good enough." and these automatic thoughts that favor the appearance of depressive feelings use cognitive distortions.

When the individual encounters certain negative events that activate their cognitive vulnerability, they generate negative thoughts about themselves, the world and the future, even despite the existence of contrary evidence.

As a consequence, the negative symptoms that characterize depression appear.

Irrationality is a human thing

First of all, we must say that irrational thinking is much more common than we think, in fact everyone has had it at least once. Below we will present what constitutes evidence in favor on the basis of human irrationality:

• Potentially all humans, including bright and competent people, are shown to have the main irrational thoughts.
• All the irrational thoughts that produce disorders (such as the so-called absolutist thoughts that systematically include the words I have to and I must) that have been discovered in our society have also been found in practically all the social and cultural groups that have been discovered in our society. , and they have been found in practically all the social and cultural groups that have been studied in History and Anthropology.
• Many of the irrational behaviors that we carry out, such as “leaving for tomorrow what we can do today” or the lack of self-discipline, go against the teachings of our parents, friends and the media..
• Humans (even intelligent and brilliant people) once abandoned and overcome irrationalities, adopt new ones.
• People who strongly oppose various types of irrational behavior are often prey to these same irrationalities. There are atheists and agnostics who preach deeply religious philosophies and there are deeply religious individuals who act immorally..
• Being aware of irrational thoughts and behaviors helps to change them only partially. For example, there are people who know that drinking alcohol in large quantities is harmful, but just knowing it does not necessarily lead them to abstain from drinking..
• Humans often relapse into irrational habits and patterns of behavior, even though we've worked hard to overcome them..
• People often find it easier to learn self-destructive behaviors than self-worth. In fact, there are usually no problems eating more than necessary, but there are problems with following a simple diet.
• Psychotherapists who should be a good model of rationality for their patients, often act irrationally in their personal and professional life.
• People often delude themselves into believing that some negative experiences (divorce, stress, and other misfortunes) are not going to happen to them..

Irrational vs rational thoughts

Here is a table with some irrational thoughts and their rational opposites:

Rational beliefs, how are they

RATIONAL BELIEFS are evaluative cognitions of each person and with a sense of a preferential type (although not absolute). They are expressed in the form of “I would like”, “I would like”, “I would not like”, “I would prefer”, “I would like”. Positive feelings of pleasure or satisfaction are experienced when people get what they want, on the contrary, negative feelings of unpleasure and dissatisfaction (eg sadness, worry, pain, disgust) are experienced when what is desired is not achieved . These negative feelings (whose strength is closely related to the importance of desire) are considered appropriate responses to negative events that may have occurred, but they do not interfere with the pursuit of new goals or purposes. These BELIEFS are RATIONAL in two aspects: 1st because they are relative and 2nd because they do not prevent the achievement of basic objectives and purposes..

How to eliminate our irrational thoughts

Irrational thoughts don't bloom out of nowhere. There is a family system, a history, even a genetics that have generated them. But at this time it is useful to be able to detect and work on them.

To achieve a real philosophical change in this regard, we have to do the following:

1. Realize that it is we who create, to a large extent, our own psychological disturbances and that, although environmental conditions may contribute to our problems, they are generally a secondary consideration in the process of change.
2. Clearly recognize that we have the ability to significantly modify these disturbances.
3. Understand that emotional and behavioral disturbances stem largely from irrational, dogmatic, and absolutist beliefs.
4. Discover our irrational beliefs and discriminate between them and their rational alternatives.
5. Question these irrational beliefs using the logical-empirical methods of science.
6. Work on the attempt to internalize our new rational beliefs, using methods of cognitive change.
7. Continue this process of refuting irrational ideas and using methods of change for the rest of our lives.