Comments on: The A.P.E. Method to Get Out of a Bad Mood

By: Partners-InC » Blog Archive » Use A.P.E. to get out of a bad mood

Partners-InC » Blog Archive » Use A.P.E. to get out of a bad mood — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 11:24:55 +0000

[...] Whenever I’m in a bad mood, there’s three ways for me out of it. Either I take the bad mood to the max by being a little self-destructive, I’ll do something I really like, or I’ll radically change the context I’m in. This post by Senia Maymin gives a nice structural approach to get out of a bad mood. She describes the A.P.E. method: Alternative, Perspective, Evidence. [...]

By: Jeremy Lee

Jeremy Lee — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 23:12:07 +0000

I am writing to let you know the latest issue of Greater Good magazine
(Fall 2007) is out.This issue explores “The 21st Century Family,”
discussing the many ways that American family life has been transformed in
recent years. Families today face issues their grandparents could scarcely
have imagined: the challenges of being a dual-income couple; the questions
faced by gay and lesbian parents and stay-at-home dads; and the obstacles
confronted by all families today to find time for one another and make
ends meet.

This issue of Greater Good gets past overheated rhetoric about the decline
of the family and delves into new research findings. Contributors bring
these research findings to life in honest, revealing portraits of typically
atypical 21st century families, and they make clear how families can still
thrive during this period of transition. As historian Stephanie Coontz
makes clear in the issue’s lead essay, it’s not the changes themselves but
how families respond to them that will determine how well they fare in the
21st century.
Link to this article:
http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/greatergood/current_issue/Coontz.html

In addition to Coontz’s essay, the issue also covers topics including:
Divorce. Ruth Bettelheim explains how divorce can be painful for children,
but she also shows what divorcing parents can do to help their kids
succeed when one family becomes two.
Link to this article:
http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/greatergood/current_issue
/Bettelheim.html

By: The A.P.E. Method to Get Out of a Bad Mood | Talent Development Resources

The A.P.E. Method to Get Out of a Bad Mood | Talent Development Resources — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 06:06:13 +0000

[...] From article: The A.P.E. Method to Get Out of a Bad Mood, By Senia Maymin, Positive Psychology News Daily. [...]

By: » Brain Fitness June Blog Carnival « Brain Fitness Revolution at SharpBrains

Tue, 19 Jun 2007 12:52:36 +0000

[...] Senia Maymin presents The A.P.E. Method to Get Out of a Bad Mood posted at Positive Psychology News Daily. [...]

By: " Aspiring to Be a Positive Parent " on Positive Psychology News Daily

" Aspiring to Be a Positive Parent " on Positive Psychology News Daily — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 23:33:17 +0000

[...] • Resilience – Over the last 2 weeks, I attended the Penn Resiliency Training and learned how to teach school-aged kids the skills to help them become more resilient. Many of this month’s contributors have already described the mechanisms behind some of these skills: Senia Maymin wrote about using the A.P.E. method, Nick Hall explained how to use our ABC’s in the face of adversity, and Kathryn Britton illustrated how reframing can help us cope with situations at work. Research has shown that there is a strong correlation between a mother’s optimism or pessimism and her child or children’s own outlook on life. [...]

By: " Taking Positive Psychology to Work: The Reframing Skill " on Positive Psychology News Daily

Thu, 07 Jun 2007 18:06:06 +0000

[...] There are lots of sources about techniques that individuals can use to reframe personal thinking in more productive ways, such as Aaron Beck on cognitive therapy and Karen Reivich and Andrew Shatte on resilience training. There have already been two articles on this subject in June: Senia Maymin’s APE method to get out of a bad mood and Nick Hall’s article about the ABC approach. So I’d like to focus on reframing as a group exercise, where people decide to turn the downward spiral around by working together on new ways to view shared reality. I have found that reframing is a skill that people in groups pick up pretty quickly once they’re challenged to try it. [...]

By: Jeff Dustin

Jeff Dustin — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 23:10:29 +0000

Yes I’m familiar with SMART goal setting. Your advice about working backwards with the end in mind is a bullseye.

By: Senia

Senia — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 22:56:15 +0000

Hi Jeff, Kathryn, and Atlanta! JEFF, Happy Birthday! Kathryn, like you wrote in your article here on setting goals, I totally agree about the small steps and watching the process, not the conclusion - both very rich pieces of advice. Atlanta, SMART is a great goal-setting thought-process. Jeff, are you familiar with SMART? Do you like it? And finally, this question - "How do you set a goal that is realistic?" - is a hugely important, self-directed question. One other method I like beyond SMART is to set 6-month goals, then work back to one-month goals, and then to weekly goals for that month. You'll know at the level of weekly goals whether something is time and resource achievable. How does this sound to you?

By: Atlanta Camilleri

Atlanta Camilleri — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 22:00:38 +0000

Hi Fabulous Material,
Love your work!
I facilitate a group of SMART RECOVERY for people with addictions. At this stage we have members with drug and alcohol issues. SMART encourages clients to set their own goals.
Relapse is part of the process for many, I recommend small achievable goals (smart) and we use the ABCDE model. Impluse is a factor so breaking down actions and consequences helps.
Seeing others achieve helps motivate. Coming weekly gives a sense of accountability and belonging, motivation is increased by sharing of successes.
An underlying theme I hear from many is “Whats the point” so I ask about meaning and purpose in life.
Clients can really help each other and it doesnt seem to matter if it is the emotion or the thought that comes first, as long as it helps them pause before reacting.

Cheers

By: Kathryn Britton

Kathryn Britton — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 18:33:34 +0000

Jeff,

Happy Birthday indeed!

Reminds me of a t-shirt my brother gave me on one of my birthdays:

Never trust anyone older than 30
40
50!
I laughed at it … but I never wore it. Then I gave it back to him the next year, and he wore it out.

Kathryn