How To Use the Triple Column Technique to Defeat Negative Self-Talk

“Your mind believes what you tell it.” — Paul J. Meyer
Negative self-talk is a common problem.  The trick is to learn how to turn your inner dialogue from a critic to a coach.  The Triple Column Technique is a proven practice for improving your internal self-critical dialogue.
In Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy Revised and Updated, David Burns introduces the Triple Column Technique as a method for developing a more effective self-evaluation system.
Overview Here are the key points:

• Train yourself to write down your critical thoughts.  Train yourself to write down critical thoughts that run through your mind.
• Identify distortions.  Learn why these thoughts are distorted.
• Talk back to your distorted thoughts.  Practice talking back to them to develop a more realistic self-evaluation system.

Summary of Steps According to Burns, the keys steps to use the Triple Column Technique are as follows:

• Step 1 – Create the Triple Column Technique table.
• Step 2 – List your self-criticism.
• Step 3 – Identify cognitive distortions.
• Step 4 – Identify rational thoughts.

Step 1 – Create the Triple Column Technique table
According to Burns, to create the table for the Triple Column Technique:

1. Draw two lines down the center of a piece of paper to divide it into thirds.
2. Label the left-hand column “Automatic Thoughts (Self-cricitism)
3. Label the middle column “Cognitive Distortion”
4. Label the right-hand column “ Rational Response (Self-defense)”

Step 2. List your self-criticism. According to Burns, in the left-hand column, write down all the hurtful self-criticisms you make when you are feeling worthless and down on yourself.
Step 3 – Identify cognitive distortions.
According to Burns, in the middle column, write down the cognitive distortions. Using the list of 10 Distorted Thinking Patterns , see if you can identify the thinking errors in each of your automatic negative thoughts. The 10 Distorted Thinking Patterns are:

• All-or-nothing thinking
• Overgeneralization
• Mental filter
• Disqualifying the positive
• Jumping to conclusions (Mind reading, fortunate teller error)
• Magnification or Minimization
• Emotional reasoning
• Should statements,
• Labeling and Mislabeling,
• Personalization.

Step 4 – Identify rational thoughts. According to Burns, substitute a more rationale, less upsetting thought in the right-hand column. Don’t try to cheer yourself up by rationalizing or saying things you don’t objectively believe are valid. Instead, try to find a more objective fact. Your response can take into account what was illogical or erroneous about your self-critical automatic thought.
Example Triple Column Technique Burns includes an example of a Triple Column Technique:

Automatic Thought (Self-Criticism)	Cognitive Distortion	Rational Response (Self-Defense)
I never do anything right.	Overgeneralization	Nonsense! I do a lot of things right.
Everyone will look down on me.	Mind reading; Overgeneralization; All or nothing thinking; Fortune teller error	Someone may be disappointed that I’m late, but it’s not the end of the world. Maybe the meeting won’t even start on time.
This shows what a jerk I am.	Labeling	Come on, now, I’m not a "jerk."