Like Maria, some clients believe that negative emotions are unsafe: “If I get upset, _____,” for example, “it will get worse and worse until I can’t stand it, I’ll lose control, it will never go away, or I’ll end up in the hospital.” These kinds of beliefs can interfere with working to achieve their goals. Clients may avoid situations in which they predict they will become upset. They may avoid talking about or even thinking about distressing problems. When clients have dysfunctional cognitions about experiencing negative emotion, they may not make much progress in treatment. You can use standard cognitive restructuring techniques to help clients evaluate their beliefs. Doing a behavioral experiment using mindfulness (pp. 278–279) is especially effective. When clients successfully disengage from a thought process such as worry, you can guide them in changing their cognitions from “Worry is uncontrollable” to “I can choose to disengage in worry when I notice it has started.”