According to J. Beck, it is often easier for a client to see the distortion in an intermediate belief and test such belief, if the belief is in the form of:

Rules.

Assumptions.

Attitudes.

Images.

Mary is fearful of being judged incompetent by others and consequently pushes herself to work harder than anyone else to "prove" that she is competent. According to J. Beck, that behavior is best described as an example of:

Classically/respondent conditioned response.

Coping/compensatory strategy.

Avoidance/escape behavior.

Vicariously learned secondary gain.

If a client is having difficulties identifying automatic thoughts, J. Beck suggest the following alternatives except:

Request that the client visualize the situation.

Role-play the specific situation.

Ask for a detailed description of the event.

Be silent to let the client reflect on the situation.

J.Beck indicates that sometimes a client’s automatic thought may be true, and in such cases the most appropriate follow-up by the social worker.

Explore for how long has he/she had that thought.

Ask whether that type of thinking is common in his/her family of origin.

Ask the client to refocus his/her awareness on a “happy” thought.

Explore the meaning that the automatic thought has to the client.

According to Greenberger and Padesky’s, the following best represents the rationale for helping clients engage in behavioral experiments:

Test the accuracy of underlying assumptions.

Test the client’s ability to tolerate adversity.

Test the predictability of certain emotions.

Test the validity of certain emotions.