welcome to cognitive behavioral therapy nuggets i'm your host dr dawn elise snipes in
this video we're going to be talking about the four ps of problem conceptualization
when you experience a problem it is helpful to really step back and examine the problem with
a larger lens and these four p's can help you do that so when something happens and you get upset
let's say you get into a fight with your significant other
okay so that's the problem and you feel angry about that what are the predisposing factors that
are contributing to this what core factors about you based on your prior experiences and your
personal characteristics might have contributed to your reaction in this situation you know some
people may go through a similar situation and it's not a big deal for them but you got angry so what
personal characteristics might be contributing to that maybe you um have a high standard for
yourself and for others and you expect perfection out of everybody and a lot of times people fall
short of that and that triggers your anger so that could be a personal characteristic of you
that type a high strung personality that might have contributed to this situation
precipitating factors are your vulnerabilities and these are things that are present in the
moment that made you more likely to react strongly to pretty much anything that came your direction
maybe you were sick you were in pain you were over tired you were too hyped up on caffeine
you were drunk whatever the case may be precipitating factors are things that are going
on right now that made you react more strongly to this situation than you might normally have
the third p are your perpetuating factors once you get angry you know anger is a perfectly
normal feeling and it tells us that there might be a threat and we should use our energy to evaluate
whether there is a threat and to do something but once you have evaluated the threat you've gotten
safe and you've done what you can to address the situation if you're still holding on to that
anger or fear or distress then we want to look at what's reinforcing that what things are telling
you that it is worth your energy to hold on to this anger and explore those and see if they're
really useful you know if i if i let go of my anger then i'm going to be taken advantage of well
is that actually accurate another thing that can go along with the perpetuating factors
are what i call skill or resource deficits sometimes you know we'll use anger as the
example here people get angry and they may not have the skills and tools to de-escalate
they may not know how to calm themselves down we aren't born with coping skills
we aren't born with self-soothing skills so if you aren't taught those you may have difficulty
self-soothing and down regulating after you get upset and that's important to know those
skills can be learned but it's important to know that hey i need to learn them and the fourth p
are your protective factors so in this situation what are your strengths that are going to help
you deal with this situation that are going to keep you safe that are going to help you cope
and you can look at your coping skills you can look at your personal resources your
friends your family you can look at times when you've been through similar situations
and have emerged successfully and look at what you did then so look at your personal strengths
that are going to help you deal with the situation at hand a lot of times when we
feel distressed it's because we feel powerless and this last thing these protective factors
focusing on your strengths helps you find your power so you're understanding how your personal
characteristics your predisposing factors impact the way you initially react to a situation
you're exploring how things that are going on in the present moment may make you more vulnerable
to an excessively strong reaction you're going to continue to evaluate the perpetuating factors why
do are you continuing to feel angry or anxious or depressed is there something reinforcing that
is there something telling you it's beneficial to hold on to this anger
if so it's important to explore what that might be and how you might be able to address it or
are you continuing to stay upset because you don't have the skills to or you're not
calling on those skills maybe you have them but you're not using them to d down regulate
to de-escalate yourself and finally where's your power in this situation what protective
things do you have what strengths do you have that will help you deal with the situation