Automatic and Coping thoughts

At my internship, I'm constantly trying to help students deal with the Negative Automatic thoughts many of them encounter on a day-to-day basis. These thoughts are often so ingrained that it can be paralyzing for them. Many of these thoughts are the basis of their anxiety. For example, I hear students thinking they're going to fail, that a class or the school is too hard, that they'll never get into a good college, and everyone but them is understanding a concept. My goal in working with these students is to get them to think of coping thoughts which can ultimately impact their feelings and behaviors. Thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are all connected; by changed or recognizing one hopefully the others are positively impacted. When a student comes to the office saying they are going to fail, it is my goal for them to be able to say something such as "I probably won't get an A, but I'll do okay". Armed with these coping thoughts, hopefully, their behaviors are less defeated.

The first worksheet has common automatic thoughts with corresponding Coping Thoughts. I often will practice these with my students. For ones who have less experience, I'll try to provide them with examples, but more experienced students I definitely will ask them to give me the examples. 

The second worksheet asks the student to identify a stressful situation that happened that week or something that happens often. After that, they're asked to list their automatic thoughts and make the connection to how they feel. After identifying their automatic thoughts and feelings, they are asked to list 5 coping thoughts that could make the situation better.

This has been a helpful approach for me, especially with finals coming up. Hope it can help you as well!