How to address your issues: Behave like a scientist

Prior to working with clients as a counselling and clinical psychologist, I spent several years at various universities and colleges teaching and doing psychological research. This was preceded by several years of undergraduate and graduate education in which I was involved in research and teaching. Those years grounded me in the value of science and in the benefits of using the scientific method to gather knowledge.

This method focuses on collecting data to evaluate the validity of competing theories or perspectives as the best way to amass knowledge in psychology and other disciplines. This entails conducting experiments in which predictions stemming from the competing theories are tested by analyzing the data which has been collected. This data analysis yields conclusions regarding which theories were supported and which were not. This leads to articles being published in psychology journals, thereby adding to people’s knowledge regarding various psychological phenomena.

At the time, I had no idea that years later I would be using the scientific method in my work with clients to help them address their issues. In the following sections, I will discuss how conducting experiments to test theories can be helpful both to psychological researchers and to people trying to address their psychological issues.

Behavioural experiments: Changing beliefs by gathering data

The behavioural experiment is a fundamental technique used in cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) to help people change how they feel by changing the way they think. It is similar to another fundamental CBT technique which achieves the same result—the thought record. In both behavioural experiments and thought records, the person gathers evidence to test the validity of negative thoughts which are adding to their distress when experiencing emotions such as sadness, anxiety, anger, frustration, guilt, embarrassment and shame.

However, behavioural experiments and thought records differ in the method and the timing used to gather this evidence.  Thought records are a relatively ‘static’ technique in which the person gathers the evidence to test the validity of negative thoughts following situations they experienced which led them to experiencing strong emotions stemming from those thoughts. For example, a person who did not perform effectively in a work situation might gather evidence which supports and does not support their negative thought which caused them frustration and depression such as “I’m not good at performing my job”.

In contrast with thought records, behavioural experiments provide a dynamic and experiential way to change thoughts in order to feel better. Whereas thought records entail restructuring thoughts in the wake of situations which happen to you by chance, behavioural experiments are deliberate and planned exposures to situations which bring up the difficult emotions and the negative thoughts which contribute to them. The client acts as a participant in an experiment in which they will collect data to test the evidence which supports and does not support their negative thoughts. This active and dynamic element of behavioural experiments can often lead them to be more effective than thought records in helping a person to change how they feel by changing the way they think. In the next section, I will illustrate this process with an example.

How behavioural experiments can be used to test negative thoughts leading to intense anxiety

Intense anxiety is typically caused by the person making negative assumptions about future events and situations affecting them. These assumptions focus on overestimating the likelihood of various kinds of adversity befalling them and underestimating their ability to cope with this adversity. Gathering data from behavioural experiments helps the person to change these assumptions. In turn, doing so results in the anxiety they experience as a result of these assumptions to decrease to manageable levels. Consequently, they no longer feel the need to avoid these situations because of the discomfort associated with them.

Consider as an example a client who experiences intense anxiety in social situations. This person could plan a behavioural experiment in which they will test the various negative assumptions driving their anxiety in an upcoming social event they plan to attend. Examples are going to lunch with some friends or co-workers and attending a social event like a party. Prior to attending the event, the person would list a number of competing predictions related to the assumptions affecting their anxiety.

Some of these are ‘Theory 1’ predictions which entail expecting a negative outcome such as ‘People will react negatively to me’, ‘I’ll embarrass myself’, ‘I won’t enjoy myself’, ‘I won’t be able to cope with my anxiety,’ ‘My anxiety will get worse’ and ‘I won’t perform well socially’. Each Theory 1 prediction will be tested against a competing ‘Theory 2’ prediction which entails expecting a less negative or even a positive outcome such as ‘People will not react negatively to me’, ‘I won’t embarrass myself’, ‘I will enjoy myself’, ‘I will be able to cope with my anxiety,’ ‘My anxiety will not get worse’ and ‘I will perform well socially’.

After attending the social event, the person debriefs the experiment by evaluating each of the competing Theory 1 and Theory 2 predictions based on the data they collected. In most instances, the person will find at least some support for the more positive Theory 2 predictions. This helps the person to shift their negative assumptions about bad things necessarily occurring and about their perceived inability to perform effectively and cope with the anxiety they experience in the situation.

The result is that the person’s anxiety begins to reduce to manageable levels. This reduction, known as desensitization, is more likely to occur with repeated exposure of the person to the situations in which they experience uncomfortable anxiety levels and in which they consistently gather data to evaluate the competing predictions based on the thoughts associated with their anxiety.

The benefits of doing experiments combined with exposure to address anxiety issues

It is important to note that exposure to situations driving strong anxiety without conducting behavioural experiments is less likely to be effective in helping the person to reduce their anxiety to manageable levels. The reason is that in such instances the person is likely to act like a biased researcher or scientist in that they are likely to selectively focus on data which supports their negative assumptions and not notice or even disregard data which challenges these assumptions.

The result is that the person’s negative assumptions are less likely to be changed. In turn, their anxiety levels are less likely to be reduced. They are also less likely to be motivated to continue to expose themselves to situations in which they experience strong anxiety.

In contrast, the shift away from negative assumptions driving anxiety which is facilitated by exposure combined with behavioural experiments improves the person’s motivation to do more exposure combined with behavioural experiments. This leads to further reductions in their anxiety toward manageable levels and enhanced enjoyment of the situations which they previously did not enjoy because of the uncomfortable levels of anxiety they experienced in those situations.

Conducting behavioural experiments to address a wide range of issues

Behavioural experiments can be used to change negative thinking which plays a role in many issues in addition to social anxiety disorder which was discussed in the example. These additional issues include depression, generalized anxiety disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, panic disorder, health anxiety disorder, specific phobias, post-traumatic stress disorder, substance use issues and eating disorders. So if you want to make progress in addressing these or other issues, act like a scientist by conducting behavioural experiments. To guide you in this process, it may be helpful for you to work with a psychologist with expertise in cognitive behavioural therapy.

May you act like a scientist to address your issues,

Dr. Pat