Activity diaries are an essential information-gathering tool. They can be used for activity monitoring during an assessment phase of therapy, symptom monitoring during therapy, or activity planning as part of behaviour intervention. 

Guided by the importance of these diaries, I prepared ‘CBT Diary for Emotional Management‘, an online course delivered in English through the Udemy platform. The course is designed for students all over the world. More specifically, the target audience consists of those who want to learn how to manage their negative emotions; for those that are interested in cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT); and of course, for those who have a general interest in psychology.

Psychology students, psychologists and psychotherapists could benefit the most from this online course. This CBT diary course is focused on applying a technique from CBT for emotional management – cognitive behavioural diary. Its content describes how the technique of diary in CBT could be used for emotional management, with the ultimate goal of improving one’s emotional state.

CBT is an evidence-based therapy that achieves emotional management through effecting change in cognition. The change of dysfunctional cognitions and negative emotions in CBT often occurs by using the CBT diary technique.

The course is developed in such a detailed way that no prior knowledge about CBT is required. It includes full-lifetime access to 2.5 hours on demand video lectures in English with closed captions (CC) / subtitles in English; 4 Articles; 1 Supplemental Resource; and a Certificate of Completion.

The students will learn how to reduce their negative emotions using CBT diary. Additionally, they will learn how to create a CBT diary and how to use it for handling the negative experiences from interpersonal relationships. They will be able to differentiate CBT diary from other kinds of diaries used with the goals of introspection, biographical diagnostics, as well as in the learning process. CBT diary is related with the scientific methods of introspection and biography, but it has its peculiar structure.

In this online course, the structure of CBT diary is presented and each element of its structure is discussed with some appropriate examples.

The curriculum for this course is organised into four sections:

• The first section is ‘What to expect from this course?’ that includes the parts ‘Introduction’, ‘Reflection Question’, ‘Why CBT?’, ‘Why Diary?’ The scientific methods of ‘Introspection and Biography’, and Quiz 1 for Section 1.
• The second section is ‘CBT Diary Structure’ that comprises the parts ‘Situation’, ‘Emotion’, ‘Automatic Thought (Part 1): Nature and Origin’, ‘Automatic Thought (Part 2): How to Identify It’, ‘Evidence Pro’, ‘Evidence Con’, ‘Alternative Thought’, ‘Changed Emotion’, ‘Action Plan and Obstacles’, ‘Summary of Typical CBT Diary Structure’, and Quiz 2 for Section 2.
• The third section is ‘Cognitive Biases’ that presents the different cognitive distortions, how they could be recognised and overcome – polarized thinking, overgeneralisation, catastrophising, magnification, mind reading, labeling, personalisation, filtering, discounting positives, jumping to conclusions, control fallacies, blaming, being right, emotional reasoning, change fallacy, comparisons, strict rules, reward fallacy, and fairness fallacy. Cognitive biases interaction is also covered. Quiz 3 for Section 3 summarises its content.
• The last section is ‘Conclusion: What’s next?’ that includes the parts ‘Practical Activity: Create and Maintain Your CBT Diary’, ‘A Case of CBT Diary’, Summary of the course regarding the importance of regularly maintaining one’s CBT diary, and a final ‘Thank you’ video. Some resource materials are given for assistance in applying CBT diary for emotional management.

The course project consists of creating and maintaining regularly your CBT diary for emotional management using the template offered in this course. Practising skills is important for acquiring new ones and improving the existent skills.

‘CBT Diary for Emotional Management’ is based on the principles of dialog through the discussion boards and active participation to foster education and expression in order to help students develop their skill set, and push themselves to reach their potential and exceed their expectations.

Once the online course ‘CBT Diary for Emotional Management’ is purchased for a minimal fee (no more than 20 euros), the learner has full-lifetime access to its content, which means that you can study the course material as many times as they need this.

Please, visit the website to access to this online course.

Professor Stanislava Stoyanova has about 15 years experience in the areas of psychological diagnostics and consultancy. She has been trained in cognitive behavioural therapy, transactional analysis, and art therapy. She is a lecturer in psychological measurements, experimental psychology, and social psychology. She has a number of scientific publications. Professor Stoyanova serves as a member of the editorial board for Psychreg Journal of Psychology and is the Editor-in-Chief of the journal Psychological Thought.