Learning to Tell Myself the Truth

William Backus

Description

A 6-WEEK PROGRAM Designed to Bring Immediate and Long-lasting Results to the Way a Person Thinks, Feels, and Acts.What Is Truth Therapy?With over half a million copies of Telling Yourself the Truth sold, tens of thousands of people have benefited from author William Backus’s life-changing principles of truth therapy. Utilizing the resources of the Christian faith—the power of the truth and the Spirit of truth—truth therapy has already empowered people to break from the tyranny of anger, depression, anxiety, perfectionism, and other emotional difficulties.Why a Workbook?Learning to Tell Myself the Truth is a stand-alone workbook designed to provide readers with the directive tools to implement truth therapy into their lives. Through self-evaluation, growth exercises, and the spiritual discipleship unique to a workbook, readers will be enabled to identify their own misbeliefs and replace them with the truth. Based on the premise that people feel and act the way they think, freedom from emotional anguish and behavioral paralysis is possible if true thoughts replace the lies a person believes.Who Is Helped by Truth Therapy?Anyone who has difficulty controlling inappropriate emotions and/or actions—depressed people, anxious people, habitually irritated or angry people, people who want to break tough habits, and people who would like to feel better or establish better control over some aspect of their behavior.Will It Work for Me

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie

Informations

• Publié par: Baker Publishing Group
• Date de parution: 01 novembre 1994
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781585588305
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

Cover
Title Page
Copyright Page
© 1994 William Backus
Published by Bethany House Publishers 11400 Hampshire Avenue South Bloomington, Minnesota 55438 www.bethanyhouse.com
Bethany House Publishers is a division of Baker Publishing Group, Grand Rapids, Michigan. www.bakerpublishinggroup.com
Ebook edition created 2012
Ebook corrections 12.01.2015, 01.16.2018
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
ISBN 978-1-5855-8830-5
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture is taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com
Scripture quotations labeled RSV are from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations identified NKJV are from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations identified (GNB) are from the Good News Bible , the Bible in Today’s English Version. Copyright © American Bible Society 1966, 1971, 1976.
Dedication
To Nan
Contents
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
A Word From Dr. Backus
PART ONE: Before You Get Started
1. Will Truth Therapy Work for Me?
2. What Makes Truth Therapy Different?
PART TWO: A Six-Week Guide to Freedom From Anger, Anxiety, Depression, and Perfectionism
WEEK ONE: The Tools of Truth Therapy
WEEK TWO: Misbelief Detection
WEEK THREE: Anger: It’s Sometimes Hard to Recognize
WEEK FOUR: Anxiety: Breaking the Worry/Anxiety Spiral
WEEK FIVE: Depression: Coming Out of the Darkness
WEEK SIX: The Paradox of Perfectionism

About the Author
Other Books by Author
Notes
Back Cover
A Word From Dr. Backus
A Word From Dr. Backus
After I finished writing this book, I sat looking at the manuscript stacked neatly on my desk and found myself wondering, “What am I trying to do? Why did I write another book about truth? Maybe I have written more books on the power of truth therapy than anyone cares to read. And why—with so many books available that offer so much—should someone buy this one?”
These are valid questions, both for me as an author—and for you as the reader. Freedom from anger, anxiety, depression, and perfectionism may sound impossible. Although you may feel understandably skeptical, I can assure you that freedom from the tyranny of these emotions is possible. The freedom you are about to discover is the proven experience of countless individuals who have learned to tell themselves the truth.
As I wrote each chapter, I imagined a reader picking up this workbook hoping to find some answers—and looking for a way to put those answers to work. Life throws many experiences at us, sometimes so rapidly, that we feel overwhelmed, out of control, or tired of trying. Perhaps you’re feeling like life gets so ahead of you that you’re tired of trying to keep up. Perhaps you “just can’t get organized,” or are full of good intentions but can’t seem to follow through. Perhaps you’re trying to recover from losing a loved one or a recent divorce or a major financial setback. You want to believe that the troubling emotions with which you struggle can be healed and that you can again be happy.
Since Telling Yourself the Truth was first published in 1980, hundreds of readers have written to me to say:
Telling Yourself the Truth has been a real godsend to me, at exactly the time I needed it. It has worked—and has fundamentally changed me.
The response from readers and clients confirms again and again the healing, transforming power of truth therapy. As I looked at the new manuscript on my desk, I realized that in the years since Telling Yourself the Truth was first published, time has only strengthened my burning desire to persuade men and women to give truth a chance to accomplish for them what I know it can and will do.
For readers who are not familiar with Telling Yourself the Truth , this workbook is designed to be used independently of the original. For those who have read one of my previous books, you will find this workbook to be unique. Unlike my other books, this one is made to facilitate reader response, self-searching, writing (or journaling), and self-directed growth exercises. In addition, research and clinical practice have continued to shed light on our techniques, methodology, and understanding. By incorporating this valuable information, this workbook updates and complements the original.
Finally, no matter what your circumstances, I want to offer you a strong word of encouragement. First of all, by simply picking up this workbook, you are a hero or heroine. By taking this action, you are saying to yourself that change is possible—even if you are still somewhat skeptical. Secondly, I believe you are a person of courage. Making a commitment to look honestly at yourself, your relationships, and your circumstances—and make healthy changes—takes courage. Any person willing to make a commitment to positive action and open to learning and growth is an unsung, everyday hero. For those readers who choose to turn the page and work this program of healing, welcome to an adventure in personal and spiritual growth. Welcome to the beginning of freedom from the tyranny of troubling emotions.
William Backus
Forest Lake, Minnesota
December 1993
Part One: Before You Get Started
Part One
Before You Get Started
One
Will Truth Therapy Work for Me?
Arthur was unquestionably a Type A person. You know the type: intense, abrupt, quick-tempered. He was the kind of guy who races through life tackling three jobs at once, while complaining about what he is not accomplishing. A sales manager for a computer systems company, Art was a man who delivered impressive sales results—and he quickly let me know he expected outstanding results from me.
“Arthur, what brings you here today?” I asked during our first session.
“Stress!” he shot back.
Yet unlike my other clients, he didn’t continue describing his difficulties. Rather than “waste” time telling me more about himself or his situation, he demanded to know a timetable for improvement.
“How soon can you take care of this?” Art asked, as if asking for a non-negotiable delivery date for the latest computer software. “You psychologists try to keep people coming back forever, but I don’t have the next five years to fool around. I want to get this over with and get on with life. Time is money. How long is this going to take?”
The Unspoken Questions
I’ve often wondered why more people don’t ask questions about what their counselors plan for their course of treatment. Although Art may have been unnecessarily aggressive, his questions were quite valid. Yet few clients begin treatment by asking their counselor or therapist, “Can you help me?” “How long will I need to come?” or “Why do you think your method of therapy will work for me?”
Perhaps psychology has been shrouded in the mystery of the subconscious for so long that many people view the counseling process as complex, complicated, or “too deep” for someone to understand without advanced training. Yet this perception is simply not the case for those individuals who employ the process of truth therapy as presented in this workbook.
I’m glad to tell you what I told Art: Compared to other methods of psychotherapy, truth therapy gets results quickly. Today, because of constraints imposed by many health insurance companies, a client may have insurance coverage for no more than eight to ten hours of psychotherapy. Even in that brief period, the results of truth therapy are encouraging. You can change the way you feel. If you follow this proven plan for self-help, you will find freedom from the tyranny of anger, anxiety, depression, and perfectionism.
Why can I make this bold assertion? How can real, lasting help come from a book? Isn’t seeing a professional necessary if you really want to improve your emotional life? You may be asking yourself any or all of these questions. Before you spend any time working through this workbook, let’s address these concerns and look briefly at a few other valid questions.
I confidently promise gratifying results from truth therapy for these reasons: First, empirical evidence demonstrates that truth therapy will work, will work quickly, and will work powerfully to make a difference in the way you feel and act. Second, truth therapy is not hard to understand. It isn’t a complicated process of looking into the deep, dark secrets of the past. Truth therapy simply requires rigorous honesty, plain common sense, and a desire to improve your life and/or relationships. Third, truth therapy incorporates biblical principles and the power of a relationship with Jesus Christ into the healing process.
However, before we look at why this method of therapy is so effective, let’s first define what truth therapy is.
First Things First: What Is Truth Therapy?
For most of us, every day brings a mixture of good feelings and bad, behavior we’re proud of and behavior we’d rather not admit to, cheerful spirits at times and less agreeable moods at other times. Whether we struggle with dark moods, angry outbursts, or stressed-out living, at times, most of us would like to change how we feel. There’s nothing unusual about that. Yet for some of us, negative feelings can begin to dominate our lives, crippling our ability to fun