Emotion, Emotion, Cognition and Cognition and Behavior: The Behavior: The

InterplayInterplay

Emotion, Emotion, Cognition and Cognition and Behavior: The Behavior: The

InterplayInterplayMentoring Mentoring

CPD & SupervisionCPD & Supervision

Emotion• Is a mental and physiological

state associated with a wide variety of feelings, thoughts and behaviours. It is a prime detriment of subjective well-being and appears to play a central role in most human activities (Wikipedia, 2009)– Feeling – conscious, subjective

experience of emotion– Thought – is a higher

cognitive function which allows human to model the world and deal with it accordingly – it allows us to consider how to behave

– Behaviour – is action or reaction to environment and can be conscious, unconscious overt, covert, voluntary or involuntary

Cognitive Behavioural

Therapy• How we behave reflects

how we think about situations.

• How we feel about something has an impact on what we think and visa versa

• How we feel affects our behaviour

• Anxiety– Is what we feel when we

perceive we are under threat or that we are able to come with a threatening situation.

Exercise One• Aim – to identify

aspects of anxious thought, feelings and behaviours– Identify a

‘stressor’ – ie giving a presentation

– Draw a ‘spider’ chart for behaviours you demonstrate when you are stressed

– Draw a ‘spider’ chart for thoughts you have when you are stressed

– Draw a ‘spider’ chart for feelings you have when you are stressed

If I get intoDebt, I will loose my house

I will be a Failure if I

Get into debt

Getting into Debt is bad

I will get into debt

I will not be able to pay

my bills

I’ll have no money

I need a job

Exercise Two• Aim: To help you make

links between thoughts, feelings and behaviours– Working in pairs, using

your favourite system, tool or technique, to help your mentee understand how their thoughts, feelings and behaviours interact. Encourage exploration

– Explore what your mentee might do to reduce their stress or anxiety. What thought might you challenge and what behaviours might your mentee wish to change to help with their feelings?

Exercise Three• Behavioural relaxation

techniques– Breathing out stress/anxiety

• Taking a deep breath, imagine the situation that makes you anxious. Allow the feelings to rise in you. Blow out the breath imaging your stress reducing as you release the breath

– Relaxation• Sit comfortably. Take three

deep breath and breath out slowly, relaxing with each breath. Move slowly from the top of your head to your toes, relaxing each muscle in your body as you bring them to mind. Do this slowly and repeat until you feel relaxed.