Hi Mark,
I expected it was my anxiety as I tend to feel really anxious after being woken by these shocks.

A thought record is a technique used to assess an anxious thought in order to conclude if the person should be anxious at all. It points out all the evidence for and against the thought so the person can analyse it to find if there is any reason to feel anxious. CBT stands for cognitive behavioural therapy, a thought record is part of the practice of CBT.

I've known about CBT for 17 years. I had never heard of the Thought Record part. What I had been taught was more simplistic. Basically learning an alternative thought response to an event that tries to trigger a negative. In Christian oriented counseling, it is called "Taking every thought captive" based on a scripture that says we are to take every thought captive and compare it to truth.

For me, CBT was just an immediate redirect of thought without any need to journal the issues.

I recently learn an interesting bit of neuroscience. The brain processes emotional thought prior to processing intellectual thought. This is why some get stuck on the emotional issues even though the facts (intellectual) over-rule the emotional thought. This is the basis for the concept that some people do not allow the facts to interfere or over-rule their preconceived opinions.

I think that understanding this processing order can help some better frame the anxiety issues. "That is just my emotions/worries speaking. What do the facts say ?" can be an empowering concept to memorize as a sort of 'catch-all' CBT concept.

Some times, it take physical actions to overcome anxieties. I know people who don't sleep well because they are afraid they will get up late and be late to work. They base this on the fact they have pushed the snooze button in their sleep too many times. A physical action would be to put the alarm clock across the room so one needs to get out of bed to stop the alarm.

I have memorized thoughts to use as reactions to some struggles. When I struggle to get my words out, I may say, "My tongue get caught around my eye tooth and I can't see what I am saying." This lightheartedly redirects my thoughts reducing stress and my frozen mind thaws and starts working.

By injecting some humor into a stressful situation, the mind can be directed off the negative, reducing anxiety and stress, allowing a return to proper function. Most let struggles cause frustration and worry setting up a bad cascade of thoughts and events.

So, memorizing some humorous responses can be good CBT. "I just washed my mind and can't do a thing with it" is a take off on "I just washed my hair and I can't do a thing with it."

Many of us use humor, sometimes, self-deprecating in a light-hearted way, to get past these struggles.

I hope you can find some humor to use to improve your days.

My best to you.