As you know, many dysthymic clients
sincerely believe that they do not have the time to feel better. The following Cognitive Beahvior Therapy technique will help your clients achieve their goals by using their time effectively.
These are steps Andrea described on the previous track to solve problems. Solving
her problems will make her feel more competent, in control, productive, and proud
of herself.
This CBTtechnique also makes time for activities that soothe or amuse them, adding some much needed comfort or pleasure to their life. The first step,
as you know, to time management was to find out how Andrea was really spending
her time.
  Time
Management CBT Technique
Colleen
had Andrea keep account of her time for one week, stopping at intervals during
the day such as early morning, mid-morning, noon, mid-afternoon, evening, and
bedtime to chronicle how she had used her time since the previous notation. One
of the columns is headed Type. The letter O (for obligation) to denote activities
they have to do, the letter C (for choice) for things they freely chose to do,
and the letter A (for automatic) for anything they did without knowing or paying
attention to what they were doing or why.Colleen had Andrea rate these as either
positive experiences that made her smile, laugh or just feel good; neutral experiences
or ones that had no emotional impact on her; or negative experiences that upset
her in any way.
If
your clients are reluctant to commit themselves to such detailed recordkeeping,
they can take the following shortcut. It will not provide as much useful data,
but it will give a general picture of how they are using their time.
Have
your dysthymic adult or child client think of four days during the past month:
one day that is a typical weekday, a second day that is a typical weekend day
(or day off from work or school), a third day that seemed particularly hectic,
and a fourth day when they felt more depressed than usual. Have your client reconstruct,
in as much detail as possible, exactly what they did on that day and how much
time they spent on each endeavor. Next, in the session put it on a flip chart
or in a notebook for the client to keep.
With
this method, Andrea's typical weekday sounded like this:
Get
up, get dressed, and so forth:
Breakfast in front of the TV:
Travel to
work:
Work:
Travel from work:
Stop to buy fast food and magazine:
Eat and read magazine:
Make phone calls:
Watch TV and snack:
Sleep: |
|
1
hour (O-Obligation)
30 min. (A-Automatic)
20 min. (O-Obligation)
8 hours (O-Obligation)
20 min (O-Obligation)
20 min. (C-freely chose)
1 hour (C-freely chose)
30 min. (C-freely chose)
3 hours (A-Automatic)
9 hours (C-freely chose, O-Obligation, A-Automatic) |
Andrea spent eight hours at
a job she hated, nine hours sleeping, and three and a half hours watching TV,
which she admits she does not particularly enjoy. Then, include forty minutes
of commuting on congested freeways that frighten Andrea, and you get a daily routine
that might depress even the cheeriest optimist. Looking closely at your client's
Personal Activities Chart, together, you will probably find similar connections
as well as other behavioral sources of their depression. Of course, your client
may also begin to see some activities they can minimize in order to have time
for things that will help them feel better.
Online Continuing Education QUESTION
10
What is a benefit derived from a client's time management study? To
select and enter your answer go to .
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