CBT. You might've heard of it. It stands for cognitive behaviour therapy and has focuses on setting up thoughts for reality testing. What's that mean? It means that when there's an identification of distorted negative beliefs (or cognitions) about oneself, bringing these to the fore through the use of testing them against the backdrop of "reality" might prove beneficial is ridding yourself of them.
You fail in a maths quiz, or relationship, or whatever; this brings a sneaky thought to mind: "I'm a failure! I never succeed at anything. I'm always gonna be a failure." Where this thought most likely will lead is to negative behaviours that are formulated in accordance with that belief such as, trying less in what you're doing; avoiding relationships; retreating into yourself, etc.
One technique that's been tried and tested in ridding oneself of these thoughts, or at least challenging them, has been the S.T.U.N. technique.
What's the S.T.U.N. technique?
Mark Walsh from integration training on CBT Techniques
It stems from the theoretical backdrop of Aaron T. Beck's, MD, cognitive therapy, or CBT. Formulated by psychotherapist Roger Mills the S.T.U.N. technique asks you to Spot your thinking. When you've spotted this thinking (generally "bad" cognitions) ask whether it's actually True for you. If it proves that it's true (or untrue) ask yourself whether it's Useful. If you find that it's not useful then you might decide you have to do something about it. That's when you create a New story (just as real as you thought the negative story was) and test that against reality. When you realise that this new story is serving you better, you're more equipped to handle the situation that was initially distressing.
Spot.
True?
Useful?
New.
Understanding that there's a plethora of stories out there that could either serve you well, or not so well, the onus is on yourself to seek and find these "stories."
To some it's not as simple as that, and in that case they may benefit from seeing a counsellor, psychotherapist, or psychologist. However, if you come across those "sneaky little intrusive thoughts" you'd do well to S.T.U.N. them into reality!
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This seems like a great technique! As I was reading it I realized that I naturally take these steps when I am struggling with some issues that are causing me stress or discomfort.
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