MEANING ADJUSTER
The Meaning Adjuster was developed by Debbie Featherstone in 2019 as a transition tool to use the Beck Thought Record. Often, the Meaning Adjuster is all you need. Other times you may benefit from using the Beck Thought Record later in the CBT for Tinnitus E-Programme
How to complete the Meaning Adjuster
- Enter your email address (preferably an email address other than gmail) and the date
- Situation: Describe in a sentence or two the situation upon which your record is based
- What were the feelings and emotions you noticed? Common examples are Anxious, Angry, Frustrated, Worried, Guilty, Hopeless, Overwhelmed, Scared, Frightened, Sad, Depressed... use whatever you notice you experienced. We rarely experience only ONE emotion at a time, so check in with yourself what you were feeling. There are usually at least two or three of them - more often, there are three or four
- Give each of the emotions/feelings a percentage score of how strong you felt them, so for example: frustrated 80%, scared 70%, worried 90% etc.
ITEM 7:
"Is this concern 100% logical? (Is it objective?) ALWAYS aim to be 100% NO. On the few infrequent occasions - for good reason - where you cannot genuinely give 100%, use "NOT QUITE THERE YET"
In item 7, you have the opportunity to clarify for yourself whether your 'worst or strongest concern' (item 6) is OBJECTIVE or SUBJECTIVE. In the vast majority of cases and situations, the answer is going to be NO. This would be because the concern is based on SUBJECTIVE feelings, emotions and cognitive distortions
The remainder of the record is self-explanatory. At the end of the record, press SEND. You receive a copy of your record by email