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What's The CBT Secret Sauce?

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Emily Mary Oxford

Tier 1
For Schools

Lesson Plan

CBT Basics A Mind-Opening Journey

Students will be able to define Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and identify the interconnectedness of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.

Understanding CBT helps students recognize how their internal world impacts their actions, providing a powerful tool for managing emotions and making positive choices.

Audience

7th Grade Students

Time

50 minutes

Approach

Interactive presentation, discussion, and an engaging activity.

Materials

Your Brain's Superpowers An Intro to CBT (slide-deck), Mind-Body-Action Connection Challenge (activity), and First Impressions of Thought Power (discussion)

Prep

Review Materials and Prepare Classroom

15 minutes

  • Review the CBT Basics A Mind-Opening Journey Lesson Plan and all linked materials: Your Brain's Superpowers An Intro to CBT Slide Deck, Mind-Body-Action Connection Challenge Activity, and First Impressions of Thought Power Discussion.
    - Ensure projector and computer are set up for the slide deck.
    - Prepare copies of the activity (if desired, or instruct students to use notebooks).

Step 1

Introduction and Warm-Up

10 minutes

  • Begin with an engaging question to spark curiosity about how our brains work and how we react to things.
    - Introduce the concept of the 'CBT Secret Sauce' using the Your Brain's Superpowers An Intro to CBT Slide Deck (Slide 1-3).
    - Facilitate the First Impressions of Thought Power Discussion to gauge initial understanding and connect to real-life experiences.

Step 2

Exploring CBT Principles

15 minutes

  • Use the Your Brain's Superpowers An Intro to CBT Slide Deck (Slide 4-8) to explain the core principles of CBT: thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.
    - Provide clear examples of how these three elements interact.
    - Encourage student participation and questions throughout this section.

Step 3

Mind-Body-Action Connection Activity

20 minutes

  • Introduce the Mind-Body-Action Connection Challenge Activity.
    - Guide students through the activity, allowing them to apply the CBT principles to various scenarios.
    - Circulate and provide support and clarification as needed.

Step 4

Wrap-Up and Reflection

5 minutes

  • Bring the class back together to share insights from the activity.
    - Briefly review the main takeaways from the Your Brain's Superpowers An Intro to CBT Slide Deck (Slide 9-10).
    - Conclude by reinforcing the importance of understanding our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors for overall well-being.
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Slide Deck

What's the CBT Secret Sauce?

Unlocking Your Mind's Potential!

Welcome students and introduce the engaging title. Ask them what they think 'secret sauce' means in this context.

Ever Wonder Why You Feel a Certain Way?

Why do you react differently than your friend to the same situation?
What goes on inside your head that makes you happy one moment, and frustrated the next?

Ask students what they think influences how they feel or act. Encourage varied responses.

Meet CBT: Your Brain's Superpower!

CBT stands for Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.
It's a way to understand how your thoughts, feelings, and actions are all connected.
Think of it as learning the 'secret code' to your own mind!

Explain that CBT is a way of understanding how our brains work. It's like a superpower for your mind!

The CBT Triangle: THOUGHTS

What are thoughts?

  • Your inner voice: The things you say to yourself.
  • Beliefs: What you believe about yourself, others, and the world.
  • Interpretations: How you make sense of situations.

Thoughts can be quick, automatic, and sometimes not even true!

Introduce the first component: Thoughts. Emphasize that thoughts aren't always facts.

The CBT Triangle: FEELINGS

What are feelings (or emotions)?

  • Reactions: How your body and mind respond to thoughts and situations.
  • Examples: Happy, sad, angry, anxious, excited, frustrated, proud.

Feelings are powerful, but they often follow our thoughts!

Move to the second component: Feelings. Discuss a range of emotions.

The CBT Triangle: BEHAVIORS

What are behaviors (or actions)?

  • What you do: The actions you take.
  • Reactions: How you physically respond to thoughts and feelings.
  • Examples: Yelling, smiling, studying, avoiding, helping.

Behaviors are often a direct result of our thoughts and feelings.

Introduce the third component: Behaviors. Explain that these are actions we take.

The Connection: A Quick Example

Scenario: You see a friend across the hall who doesn't wave back.

  • Thought: "They're ignoring me, they must be mad."
  • Feeling: Sad, hurt, angry.
  • Behavior: You avoid your friend for the rest of the day.

How else could you think about this? How would that change your feeling/behavior?

Illustrate the interconnectedness with an example. Ask students to think of their own simple examples.

The "Secret Sauce" Revealed!

The amazing thing about CBT is that if you can change one part of the triangle—your thoughts, feelings, or behaviors—it can change the other two!

This gives you POWER over how you react and feel!

Emphasize that changing one part can impact the others. This is the 'secret sauce'!

Key Takeaways

  • Your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are all connected.
  • Understanding these connections helps you understand yourself better.
  • You can learn to change your thoughts or behaviors to feel better!

Briefly recap the main idea.

Using Your Superpower!

How can you use this new superpower in your daily life?

Next time you feel a strong emotion, try to notice:

  • What thoughts were you having?
  • What actions did you take?

You have the power to choose your response!

Encourage students to think about how they can use this in their own lives.

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Activity

Mind-Body-Action Connection Challenge

Objective: To understand how thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are interconnected in different scenarios.

Instructions: Read each scenario below. For each scenario, identify a possible Thought, Feeling, and Behavior that might occur. Then, think about how changing one of those elements could change the others.

Scenario 1: The Missed Assignment

  • Situation: You realize you forgot to turn in a major assignment that was due today.

  • Original Thought:


  • Original Feeling:


  • Original Behavior:


  • How could you change your thought to get a different outcome?





  • New Thought:


  • New Feeling:


  • New Behavior:


Scenario 2: The Group Project Glitch

  • Situation: You're working on a group project, and one of your teammates isn't doing their share of the work.

  • Original Thought:


  • Original Feeling:


  • Original Behavior:


  • How could you change your behavior to get a different outcome?





  • New Thought:


  • New Feeling:


  • New Behavior:


Scenario 3: The Unexpected Compliment

  • Situation: Someone gives you a compliment on something you worked hard on, but you feel a bit awkward.

  • Original Thought:


  • Original Feeling:


  • Original Behavior:


  • How could you change your feeling (by influencing your thought or behavior) to get a different outcome?





  • New Thought:


  • New Feeling:


  • New Behavior:


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Discussion

First Impressions of Thought Power

Objective: To activate prior knowledge and explore initial ideas about how thoughts impact our daily lives.

Discussion Questions:

  1. Think about a time you felt really happy or really sad. What kinds of thoughts were going through your mind at that moment? How do you think those thoughts influenced your feelings?










  2. Have you ever noticed that how you think about a situation can change how you act? Give an example.










  3. Imagine two people facing the exact same challenge, but one person feels stressed and gives up, while the other feels determined and tries harder. What might be different about their internal thoughts that leads to these different reactions?










  4. What do you think it means to have

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