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Sample Therapy Script for a Procrastination Scenario   177

                       Interaction                              Process Comments

                       Bill: Hey, you’re the judge who interprets that   Presenting the con-
                       law. You can change it anytime. Do you think    nection between
                       you put off doing the performance reviews to   perfectionist thinking,
                       avoid failing?                           fear of failure,
                                                                and putting off the
                                                                reviews.
                       Ted: It’s beginning to sound that way.
                       Bill: Is having your reviews challenged part of   Raise the issue that
                       this picture?                            people with perfec-
                                                                tionist views may also
                                                                suffer from anxiety
                                                                over disapproval and
                                                                confrontation anxiety.
                       Ted: I worry about that.
                       Bill: What would it mean if you had your reviews   Question to probe
                       challenged by one of your people?        connection between a
                                                                contingency between
                                                                performance and
                                                                self-worth.
                       Ted: They’d think I was a jerk. I’d lose respect.

                       Bill: And what would you think about yourself?  Question to get
                                                                back to the core self-
                                                                concept issue: what
                                                                Ted thinks about
                                                                himself.

                       Ted: That I’m a loser.
                       Bill: You’d have to be a mind reader to know   Attempt to defuse
                       what others think. But even if you were right, and   Ted’s tendency to
                       some people thought you were a jerk, would that   overgeneralize about
                       make you one? I mean, if someone called you a   his worth by suggest-
                       green grasshopper, would you start eating grass?  ing an alternative
                                                                perspective.

                       Ted: (Laughs) I’ve been called worse than a
                       green grasshopper. I guess what you’re saying is
                       that I am exaggerating, but that even if I’m right
                       about what people think, I’m still making too
                       much of it.
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