Welcome to the wacky world of brains! Natasha Tracy wrote a blog post entitled You Can’t Change Your Thoughts or Feelings (No Matter How Much CBT You Do) The title alone threw me for a loop. What was the purpose of CBT then, if not to change our thoughts and feelings? I was eager to read on.

Tracy explains that after dealing with bipolar for more than two decades she can assure us that she has tried very hard to change how she feels and thinks and it is impossible. The brain is an organ, and it’s job is to think. You don’t control the way the lungs take in oxygen. You don’t control the brains thoughts and feelings. You can’t change them. Your brain will generate good thoughts when it is well, and scary thoughts when it is not functioning well. 

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy deals with interactions between thoughts, feelings and actions. Tracy states that what happens in CBT is that “your mind is learning a new way to deal with what your brain is doing.” Your mind, she explains, is “you,” and your brain is a part of your body. Because the mind is “outside your body you can train it to react to the signals coming from your body (brain) in more effective ways.”

Tracy emphasizes that it’s important to see the relationship between the brain and the mind for bipolar people because it can “literally save their lives as their brain puts out possibly lethal signals.” When the brain has suicidal thoughts, the mind can use CBT to intervene and recognize that help is needed.

For me, knowing that I can’t change my thoughts and feelings enables me to realize I don’t need to waste time feeling guilty about them, I can move on to focusing on how to react to them in an effective way. I don’t need to be scared by them, as it is just a signal to me that my brain is sick. Medication is a way to intervene when the brain is sick, just like insulin can help when the pancreas is not functioning properly. With the right combination of medicines I have been able to reduce the amount and severity of intrusive thoughts.

If you are bipolar or have a loved one who is, I think you will find the article by Natasha Tracy to be very enlightening. She packs a lot of observations, and for me revelations, into this one article. I love the way she writes, and I think you will, too.

Natasha Tracy