Ask The Expert (Professor Dawn Carnes): Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (Episode 170)

In this episode, Michelle Mortimer and Louise Humphrey welcome Professor Dawn Carnes, an expert in musculoskeletal health and chronic pain psychology. Dawn introduces a cognitive-behavioural approach to help runners and canicrossers break through mental barriers. She explains how thoughts, emotions and behaviours are interconnected and offers practical strategies: insight into automatic negative thinking, goal‑setting with SMART objectives, problem‑solving, self‑visualisation, and self‑compassion.

 

Through a live demonstration, Michelle and Louise explore addressing motivations, reframing “chore” workouts (e.g. running intervals) into enjoyable alternatives (like netball), and challenging negative automatic thoughts mid-run. The episode concludes with encouragement to tackle fears one small step at a time, reinforcing that change is achievable by breaking tasks into manageable chunks.

 

Topics

• Cognitive‑behavioural triad: thoughts, feelings, behaviours
• Behavioural activation: how exercise lifts mood with dopamine/cortisol
• Finding enjoyable alternatives to boring workouts
• Problem‑solving demo: overcoming injury with strength training
• SMART goals explained
• Challenging negative self-talk & predictions
• Avoiding perfectionism & embracing fluctuations
• "Compare and despair”: the impact of social media
• Five-step action plan for sustainable change