​What is Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, and how does it relate to Dylan’s Hero?

(excerpt) Vic's (the Victim) voice appeared and said: "You can't do it. It's too hard...you might as well stop trying."

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, is a one of the most common types of talk therapy, and is a well-established treatment that focuses on identifying and challenging automatic negative thinking patterns to reduce uncomfortable feelings. Negative thinking comes in many forms, such as all-or-none thinking, overgeneralization, negative assumptions, catastrophizing, and personalization, to name a few, which lead to emotional distress. Recognizing and replacing self-defeating thoughts is the goals of CBT in order to reduce feelings of anxiety or depression, and strategies may include writing out thoughts on a thought record or confronting situations to learn coping mechanisms. One specific form of CBT is Rational Emotive Therapy, which aims to identify the A  B  C sequence, A representing activating events or situations, B representing beliefs, and C representing consequences. The goal is to dispute beliefs (which are often faulty assumptions) in order to create more adaptive ways of thinking. 

"Dylan’s Hero" is a story based on CBT approaches to recognizing and managing negative thinking. The facets of negative thinking highlighted in the book include Vic the Victim (which promotes depression), Pearl the Perfectionist (which promotes stress and burnout), Chris the Critic (which promotes low self-esteem), and Wally the Worrier (which promotes anxiety). Separating adaptive from maladaptive thinking patterns is helpful when recognizing how to shift thoughts, and the characters provide relatable ways for children to do so.

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(excerpt) The Hero voice told Dylan when Vic tells him he can't do things, "You can do it...a step at a time!"

Meet Vic the Victim, Pearl the Perfectionist, Chris the Critic, Wally the Worrier and finally the HERO featured in Dylan's Hero: A Story of Overcoming Negative Thinking - book by Dr. Melissa Paoni.​

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Pearl the Perfectionist ... 

Pearl the Perfectionist says: "You should not make mistakes. You need to make that horse perfectly"

Dylan believed Pearl, so he cried as he kept starting over. He tried to make ten horses, but none were good enough according to Pearl.

The Hero told Dylan when Pearl tells him he needs to do things perfectly, "You are good enough!"

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Learn More about Dylan's Hero!

Who do you think the Hero voice is?! 

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