Avoidant Personality Support Group

I had my first counseling session a few days ago, and I was sent home with some generic worksheets. One of them was on thought stopping. It's pretty self explanatory. You just condition yourself not to have negative or self defecating thoughts; usually by interrupting them with some physical act or sound.

My problem is that guilt and shame are social tools. Important ones! They keep us from wondering the streets, murdering and raping each another. And here we have an exercise designed to completely bypass our normal sense of shame. "Having second thoughts about killing that hooker? No problem, just don't think about it."

I know no ones going to agree with me here. But really; crippling my sense of morality just so I'll fit in; is this really alright!?

mimic, I think you are overthinking this one. Changing ones self-talk to more positive self-talk is not supposed to be a device of denial. It's really a very useful tool for people whose thoughts tend to run in the negative. Such as someone who really, really wants to join an iceskating club (me!) can talk themselves out of doing so because their mind can list many, many reasons why a. they are not adequate b. they are not worth it c. they would not benefit. d. they would not belong. So, until that person (me again!) learns to tell themselves a. they would have FUN! b. they would absolutely LOVE it! and c. go for it because otherwise they'd regret it! (me, me, and me again!) they don't know what they are missing.

So, if you happen to be a murderer or rapist, your thoughts are not inordinantly negative. You should be up in front of a jury of your peers. But, if you are just someone who really wants to begin to enjoy your life, you need to learn to clear the path so that you don't stand in your own way!

Hope this helps. Positive self-talk is one of the greatest, cheapest tools we all have in overcoming ANY kind of obstacles in life...not just mental health issues. Good luck!

Are you still in the program? You give some good advise(sometimes) but you sure drew blood from me. You said I didn't belong here and I felt I did. So I left!