Chapter 20 - Thought Stopping

The thought stopping technique involves teaching clients to interrupt unwanted thoughts by training clients to exclude every undesirable thought. This technique involves four steps. The first step is the client and professional counselor must decide which thoughts are going to be targeted. Second, the client will imagine a situation where the target thought is likely to occur and third, is interrupted by the command “stop.” The last step in this process is to substitute a more positive thought for the unwanted thought. The case outlined in the book describes a high school senior struggling with anxious and perfectionist thoughts. This technique can also be used in situations where the client is experiencing phobic thoughts, obsessive thoughts, and thoughts or anxiety about failure. I think this technique can be very helpful to use with students who are experiencing performance anxiety, such as test anxiety. I like that it completely interrupts unhealthy thought processes and replaces those with more positive and helpful thought processes. I can see myself using this technique in future counseling sessions with clients of varying ages in high school.