CBT and Stress

Your perceptions not any objective reality govern your emotional response and resulting behaviour.  Perceptions are based on beliefs, assumptions, values and conditioning.  You can dramatically reduce your stress by changing your distorted perceptions.  Our distorted thinking can exaggerate our perceived shortcomings.  We often paint events much worse, than they actually are by our distorted thinking.  This greatly increases our stress.  (CBT) concentrates on ways you can consciously alter your negative thinking patterns.  Changing the distorted perceptions that fuel negative emotions, is an essential, effective stress management tool.

(Wellness at Work)

Ellis basic thesis is that emotions have nothing to do with actual events.  Between the event and the emotion is realistic or unrealistic self-talk.  The self-talk produces the emotions . . . .

(p108 The Relaxation and Stress Reduction Workbook)