Product Overview
What is a Flash Card Book? Simply, a book organized like flashcards. You can use it as flashcards, as a reference or take it to your local print and copy shop and have them cut the binding off, leaving you with flashcards you can shuffle. It is a simple way to produce and distribute flashcards easily without loss or high overhead. Why Cognitive Distortions? I started study distortions seriously about 8 years ago. As therapists, we are familiar with Ego Defense Mechanisms, which are like cognitive distortions on steroids. But, distortions, fallacies and bias are much more subtle. Often we run into a client using a distortion and we know it is wrong, but do not know how to capture it define it so we can help the client see the problem. Once you can name things and define them, it becomes easier to talk about them. Years ago I worked with a young man who was involved in the Juvenile Justice System. He stated that all cops are bad! This statement is factual incorrect. But when I tried to point out there were good cops, the response I got back was all the cops I know are bad! This was a circular argument which went several levels deep and became a problem. When I was able to define his statements/behavior as a Fallacy of Composition, where a person takes information about a part of a system and stretches it to cover the whole system, I was able to confront his distortion in a more therapeutic manner. Instead of saying, I think you are wrong, mistaken or misunderstanding, I was able to say, -- you have just committed a Fallacy of Composition! I Then explained it to him, and now he had a framework in which to perceive his behaviors. His respond was, Well, I dont like cops! This is an honest statement that takes responsibility for behavior and can be therapeutically engaged. He was able to perceive the power and control he had when labeling and defining people. This is when I understood that more people had to be able to define these issues. This Flash Card Book is the beginning of that project. I hope to follow with a more extensive work detailing statements and inferences from many of the fallacies and biases presented in this work. As always, please provide me feedback, requests and information at harveynorris@yahoo.com
