Problem
I. Aly Raisman is a three-time gold medalist gymnast. While Aly was an amazing competitor, the mental side of her "game" could have used improvement. In her book, "Fierce", Aly explains that she would black out during her routines due to being so nervous. Before routines, she would often compare herself to others, think about what score she would need to medal, doubt would creep into her mind, and injury was often part of her thoughts. Most likely, the thoughts Aly had were due to lack of confidence and a perfectionist mindset which affected her self-talk; the thoughts Aly had were not helpful. Answer the following questions. Provide rationale for each answer.
• What types of distorted thinking does Aly exhibit? Explain how you know.
• How would you help Aly have more productive/helpful self-talk? Would you use a CBT approach, ACT approach, or integrated approach? Explain how you would implement the approach you chose.
II. A client, Matt, comes to you and tells you that he's been trying to lose weight and exercise more. He is discouraged and believes that he will never be successful. While he knows that going to the gym would be a better place to go to workout than his home, he is not confident enough to go to the gym and is very worried about what other people will think. He often is worried that people are focused on him and exercising "incorrectly". On top of that he doesn't want to go the gym in fear of not losing weight, because in his own words, "what if I put in all of this work and I fail at losing weight."
• What types of distorted thinking does Matt exhibit? Explain how you know.
• How would you help Matt have more productive/helpful self-talk? Would you use a CBT approach, ACT approach, or integrated approach? Explain how you would implement the approach you chose.