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Assignment #4:Cognitive Restructuring -15 points

Background and Instructions

A shift in perspective is the first critical step toward improving how you experience stress.

Perception, a person’s cognitive (mental) interpretation of events, is perhaps the most critical aspect in preventing unnecessary and unhealthy stress. Perception or the interpretation of an event is what initiates the fight-or-flight response. The event itself is not what causes us to experience stress.

Cognitive restructuring refers to the mental act of changing the meaning or our interpretation of the environmental stressors in life. This is sometimes called reframing. This approach substitutes our perceptions of stressors from thoughts that are threatening to thoughts that are non-threatening. The source of excess stress is cognitive distortion, in which perceptions become distorted and magnified out of proportion to their seriousness. Cognitive restructuring entails first awareness, and then correction, of these stressful, erroneous thoughts.

As events happen, we have a choice about how we view them or what they mean to us. Depending on how we interpret the situations will lead to feelings of either calmness or stress.

Thoroughly and thoughtfully respond to the following questions below. Complete the assignment by typing your answers after each question on this paper. Use examples as well as course material and/or outside sources to help support your responses. If you use outside sources make sure to cite your sources. Once you have completed your assignment, submit it in the appropriate location by the due date. Files ending in .doc, .docx, .rtf or .pdf are required for electronic submissions.

Section One: Cognitive Restructuring using the POPP formula (9 points)

Describe three events you encountered throughout the week that would typically initiate your stress response and your usual way of perceiving the situation.

Point of Positive Perception (POPP) Formula:

Point in time:

Identify an actual point in time when an event initiates the stress response. What was the event? What were your stressed thoughts around this event?

Positive perception:

Replace your stressed thoughts with a positive thought to respond to the event. This positive perception will stop the stress response from activating.

Point in time
What actually happened? / Cognitive distortion
What negative thoughts did this cause? / Positive perception
What positive (or neutral) twists did you give to this event? Explain how you changed your thinking (perception) in each situation.
1.
2.
3.

Section Two: Reflection Questions to Answer for Assignment #4 (3 points each)

Thoroughly and thoughtfully respond to the following questions. Be sure to include examples and connections to class material and/or outside resources in your answer. If you use outside resources in your response, please cite them.

  1. Explain your experience with applying the POPP formula. How did you feel when you perceived potential stressors in a positive way as opposed to how you typically feel when you respond by becoming stressed?
  2. When do you think you can use this in the future? Describe a future situation where the POPP formula can be useful for you in coping with stress.

Assignment adapted from: Michael Olpin, Margie Hesson Stress Management for Life: A Research-Based, Experiential Approach, 4th Edition