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Comment by dougmccune | Hacker News Reader

A few years ago my wife (a psychologist specializing in cognitive behavioral therapy) and I (programmer) collaborated on an article about CBT: http://cbtsanfrancisco.com/cbt-is-for-hackers/

CBT matches a software developer's mindset really well (at least in my view) and should be looked into.

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Yes, I agree. Thoughts affect your feelings, but often it isn't obvious because there can be a delay between thought and feeling. Also if the thought or belief is something that has been running in the background for a long time, something your dad always told you, something like that, then the thought can be hard to even see, it just blends in with the background.

Journaling therefore helped me, the disciplined kind where you write down all the thoughts you're having, at least to do with something that is bothering you. Then after each thought, you further journal by sharply analyzing the thought: basically, is it true?

Its interesting that I have developed my own model that closely resembles this (although it is not as complete). Its annoying that there is so much good information out there(like your article), but its largely inaccessible if you aren't familiar with the relevant jargon.

Something I struggle with is specifying my emotions sufficiently. Does anyone know of a complete reference? Something that includes common causes would be best (such as: stuck on a problem you can't solve -> frustration). I have seen some relevant books but they tend to be more gimmick than substance

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