When you're trying to disrupt the trauma of poverty

The CBT Dive

In this episode, host Rahim Thawer talks to Kae about the recurring feelings of stress around when rent is due. The conversation explores Kae's thoughts and emotions related to financial struggles, self-criticism, and worries about falling back into unhealthy habits. Rahim and Kae also cover topics such as maintaining psychological safety, rationalizing thoughts, and the fear of not being able to escape past trauma and financial difficulties.

With the use of the “Thought Record,” Rahim talks Kae through identifying the feelings, behaviours, and automatic thoughts that come up for Kae on the morning she has to pay her bills. Together they hone in on a hot thought, which is an automatic thought that occurs in combination with a change in emotion or mood. Since our hot thoughts can be clouded by our emotional state, they are not always the most factual. To determine if Kae’s hot thought is an accurate representation of the moment, Rahim and Kae try to find evidence to support and contradict her hot thought. Since there was evidence to contradict Kae’s hot thought, they identify a more balanced thought that could be supported by the evidence.

Takeaways

• Maintaining psychological safety is important in therapy to ensure a feeling of connection and safety.
• Identifying and evaluating difficult thoughts can help in understanding and managing challenging emotions.
• Financial struggles can trigger feelings of defeat, self-criticism, and worry.
• The fear of regressing into unhealthy habits and past trauma can impact one's mental and emotional well-being.
• Recognizing and addressing the underlying beliefs and thoughts related to financial struggles can be helpful in developing healthier coping strategies.

ABOUT THE CBT DIVE PODCAST
The CBT Dive is a video podcast that brings therapy skills to the real world. Each episode welcomes a new guest who wants to explore a challenging situation using the most common cognitive behavioural therapy tool: the thought record.
ABOUT HOST
Rahim Thawer is a queer, racialized social worker and psychotherapist based in Toronto. He's created The CBT Dive podcast to support folks who want to learn how to use a thought record and to demystify what therapy can look like.
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