Sometimes a difficult emotion can feel as though it has come from nowhere. You may suddenly notice that you feel anxious, low, embarrassed, frustrated or angry without immediately understanding why.
The CBT Cycle is a way of slowing things down and noticing the different parts of an experience and how they can influence one another.
The five parts of the CBT Cycle
Situation
What was happening? Where were you? Who were you with? For example: You send a friend a message and they do not reply for several hours.
Thoughts
What went through your mind? You might think: “I’ve upset them.” or “They don’t want to talk to me.”
Emotions
How did you feel? You might notice anxiety, sadness, embarrassment, frustration or anger.
Physical sensations
What did you notice in your body? Perhaps your heart was racing, your stomach felt tight, your muscles became tense or you felt restless.
Behaviours
What did you do? You might repeatedly check your phone, reread the message, ask someone else what they think, avoid sending another message or try to distract yourself.
How the cycle can build
Your friend has not replied. You think, “I’ve upset them.” You feel anxious. You notice tension in your body. You check your phone again and again. Each time there is still no reply, the thought may feel even more convincing and the anxiety may increase.
The cycle is not a rigid sequence. A change in one part can affect several of the others.
Where can we break the loop?
We cannot always control what emotions come up for us. We cannot simply choose to feel happy, anxious or sad. We also cannot always control our physical sensations, our initial thoughts or everything that happens around us.
What we can work on is how we respond. This might mean changing what we do in response to how we are feeling, or learning to respond differently to the thoughts that pop into our heads.
Everyone responds to difficult thoughts and feelings differently. Some people might avoid things, some might overthink or ruminate, while others might do something that helps them feel better in the short term. These responses often make sense in the moment and can provide some immediate relief. However, sometimes they can unintentionally keep us stuck in the cycle and maintain the difficulty in the longer term.
The aim is not to control every thought or feeling that comes up. Instead, CBT can help you develop more helpful ways of responding to them, giving you greater influence over what happens next.
Because the different parts influence one another, changing one area may affect the others.
- notice and examine a thought
- change what we do in response to a situation
- reduce avoidance
- use a coping strategy for difficult physical sensations
- approach a situation differently
We do not need to change everything at once. Often the first step is simply becoming more aware of what is happening.
Start by noticing
- What was happening?
- What was going through my mind?
- What emotion did I notice?
- What was happening in my body?
- What did I do next?
You do not need to challenge or change anything yet. For now, the aim is simply to notice the connections.
What comes next?
One of the most useful parts of the CBT Cycle to become curious about is our thoughts. Some thoughts appear so quickly that we barely notice them. In the next resource, we will look more closely at these automatic thoughts - and meet a useful way of thinking about the voice that keeps repeating them.