Dr. Rhonda Barofsky

While sharing your ideas and wisdom, you also set a fine example for healthy, respectful relationships. I hold David in the highest esteem for his generosity in making all his years of work available to the world as a gift. Your, Rhonda, Matt, and David's altruism is inspiring and making the world a gentler, kinder place. It fills me with hope. Jodi.

While sharing your ideas and wisdom, you also set a fine example for healthy, respectful relationships. I hold David in the highest esteem for his generosity in making all his years of work available to the world as a gift. Your, Rhonda, Matt, and David's altruism is inspiring and making the world a gentler, kinder place. It fills me with hope. Jodi.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Great. Well, let's dive in. So Anonymous asked you how I can change a self-defeating belief. And he wrote, Dear Dr. Burns, I'm an avid listener of the Feeling Good podcast and for the last few weeks an avid user of the Feeling Great app. Thank you for your incredible work and dedication to making people everywhere feel better about themselves.

Great. Well, let's dive in. So Anonymous asked you how I can change a self-defeating belief. And he wrote, Dear Dr. Burns, I'm an avid listener of the Feeling Good podcast and for the last few weeks an avid user of the Feeling Great app. Thank you for your incredible work and dedication to making people everywhere feel better about themselves.

I have a question about self-defeating beliefs that I'm hoping you can address either on the show or on your website. You've mentioned on several occasions that self-defeating beliefs are the root cause of negative thoughts and consequently of negative feelings. Yet to me, it doesn't feel like self-defeating beliefs are really addressed enough on the podcast.

I have a question about self-defeating beliefs that I'm hoping you can address either on the show or on your website. You've mentioned on several occasions that self-defeating beliefs are the root cause of negative thoughts and consequently of negative feelings. Yet to me, it doesn't feel like self-defeating beliefs are really addressed enough on the podcast.

There seem to be only a handful of episodes covering the topic. It also seems there's a very limited toolbox of methods to use on self-defeating beliefs, almost like dealing with them is considered an afterthought. If self-defeating beliefs really are the cause of all, shouldn't the primary focus be on defeating them first and only then on defeating negative thoughts?

There seem to be only a handful of episodes covering the topic. It also seems there's a very limited toolbox of methods to use on self-defeating beliefs, almost like dealing with them is considered an afterthought. If self-defeating beliefs really are the cause of all, shouldn't the primary focus be on defeating them first and only then on defeating negative thoughts?

I'm just a little bit lost when it comes to defeating self-defeating beliefs, which seem to be way harder to deal with than negative thoughts. Any insight or thoughts on the subject would be greatly appreciated. Sincerely, Anonymous

I'm just a little bit lost when it comes to defeating self-defeating beliefs, which seem to be way harder to deal with than negative thoughts. Any insight or thoughts on the subject would be greatly appreciated. Sincerely, Anonymous

Well, Matt has already put a great deal of work in responding to this question, so I pass it to you, Matt.

Well, Matt has already put a great deal of work in responding to this question, so I pass it to you, Matt.

What I learned from you before is the equation that a self-defeating belief plus an event causes a negative thought or cognitive distortion, which then leads to the emotional suffering.

What I learned from you before is the equation that a self-defeating belief plus an event causes a negative thought or cognitive distortion, which then leads to the emotional suffering.

Oh, there was quite a few of them, actually. I have to pull up the list. I don't have them memorized, but I can do that pretty easily. Well, here, I pulled up the list, too. Do you have it, Jason? No.

Oh, there was quite a few of them, actually. I have to pull up the list. I don't have them memorized, but I can do that pretty easily. Well, here, I pulled up the list, too. Do you have it, Jason? No.

So there's a lot of them, actually. I must never fail or make a mistake.

So there's a lot of them, actually. I must never fail or make a mistake.