Anxiety - Problematic Thinking

Today's article covers the thought process and things such as negative automatic thoughts and thought traps. We look at how these are bad things affect you, and also look at your thoughts to move away from this predetermined pattern that only makes things more difficult.

So far, we have come almost full circle in looking at the thoughts, emotions and behaviors that affect us when dealing with various problems in life. In this article we are going to focus on thinking and how non-effective thinking can affect us, and even make us feel worse. We are also going to look at the subconscious effects that problematic thinking patterns can have, and look at how positive and realistic thinking really can automatically help improve your frame of mind.

Damaging negative automatic thoughts

Thinking is something that we all do. We constantly reach conclusions using a variety of different thinking habits, which in some cases can be negative. W hen used too often and they can be extremely unhelpful as they skew our perspectives without us knowing. Overall, human beings think in remarkably different ways, and there are many different descriptions we use to describe our thought conclusions: like making a mountain out of a mole hill, a crisis out of nothing, letting something get to you, or taking things personally.

Negative automatic thoughts are realizations or thoughts that tend to jump into one's head automatically, hence their name. But, generally, when we are suffering a bad experience, these negative automatic thoughts tend to be extreme and extremely unhelpful. They are often skewed and present a vision of something that isn't entirely true. Negative automatic thoughts are such a natural part of our consciousness that we don't even notice them and therefore they can be hard to detect. But it is crucial that you know what your most common negative automatic thoughts are, since they control many of your reactions.

Like many things, negative automatic thoughts tend to have a trigger that predicates our response according to our beliefs. Memories, images, sounds, smells, almost anything can trigger our automatic response system. By noticing these thoughts and their "triggers" you can effectively start to understand how they are leading to a specific emotion in regards to the experience, and judge whether or not that belief is valid and effective, or unhelpful and causing problems. After all, how we deal with events is what causes us to experience emotions, i.e. the meanings we assign to things predetermines the way we feel and behave about something.

Identifying your negative automatic thoughts

You are now going to identify your negative automatic thoughts. If you have difficulties coming up with examples of your negative automatic thoughts start by thinking about your anxiety and about a certain negative event that triggers your anxiety. Try to re-experience this event as much as possible and see which negative thoughts are popping up in your head automatically - these are your negative automatic thoughts. "Brainstorm" and fill in as many worksheets with different negative automatic thoughts as you feel needed. When describing a trigger, be as specific as possible. What happened? When? Where? Who else was there? As mentioned earlier, the trigger can be anything, for example memories, images, sounds, smells or a specific situation.

Thought traps

Now you have identified some of your most significant negative automatic thoughts by looking at trigger scenarios. However, negative automatic thoughts aren't just things that occur when you're suffering from anxiety but they are things that everybody experiences from time to time.

Negative automatic thoughts can lead to thought traps, because they are often distorted and don't take all the facts into consideration. You can say that negative automatic thoughts are common thoughts traps that lead to falsification of reality. You lock yourself into your own way of thinking which often leads to overreaction. Even if thought traps aren't always problematic it's a good idea to pay attention to them and gradually learn how to deal with them.

Falling into t hought traps, or shall we say, ineffective and problematic thinking, is a common trait amongst us: so much so that there is a great deal of proof that no- one is an efficient thinker. As we have seen, CBT can help us by teaching us how to think effectively and objectively about our behaviors and emotions, and stop thinking from a skewed or unrealistic perspective. By organizing one's thinking patterns we can make our lives both a whole lot simpler and also a great deal more stress free.

The general consensus by studies is that these are the most common thought mistakes, so take a look below and have a go at understanding what they are, and why they are labeled as thought traps. When you identify a particular thought trap we strongly advis e you to do the corresponding worksheet since it helps you to view your problematic thinking more critically.

Challenging your problematic thinking

You are now going to focus on how you can challenge your negative automatic thoughts and thought traps and how you can change them into a better way of thinking. You are, for example, going to write proofs that supports, and proofs that go against, your negative automatic thought and come up with an alternative and more positive thought.

When writing down the proofs supporting your negative automatic thoughts think about what is making you think that your negative automatic thoughts are true? Do you think that everybody would see them as proofs? Try to only include objective facts. In the beginning this will probably be difficult for you and you will confuse facts with faulty interpretations.

Looking at the disproofs; what proofs go against the idea that your negative automatic thoughts are true? This can be hard since when we think negative thoughts we seek information that confirms them. But the key to changing your problematic thinking is being able to see what's going against your proofs. To see if your negative automatic thought comports with the reality, find believable disproofs, to see if there is any alternative point of views you can use the following questions:

- What do objective facts say?
- Has what you fear ever happened? If so, what can you learn from prior experiences?
- If you look back on the situation in five years' time, do you think that you will look at it differently?
- How would another person look at the situation?
- When you don't have all these strong emotions, do you think differently on the situation?
- Does your thought fit in with any of the thought traps described earlier? That is, maybe your thought isn't true but instead an example of you getting caught into a disadvantageous thought trap .  

When you have written down your negative automatic thoughts proofs and disproofs you will come to realize that sometimes the proofs for your negative automatic thoughts aren't as strong as you have imagined. In this case, write down a sound alternate thought. If the proofs both confirm and contradict your negative automatic thought, write down a balanced thought that sums up the proofs for and against your negative automatic thought.

Below is an example of this section's worksheet. It kicks off from the worksheet where you identified your negative automatic thoughts; therefore, you will recognize steps 1-4.

Now it's your turn. Choose one or a few of the negative automatic thoughts that you identified earlier to work with. Your answers will be more truthful and helpful if you fill in the worksheet when you're in the middle of a situation that has triggered your anxiety, not at a time when you have had time to cool down. Therefore, always have a notebook with you so that you can write down your negative automatic thoughts in a anxiety-creating situation. Since your new alternative thoughts aren't automatic like your old negative ones are, it will take time and practice getting used to this new way of thinking. Remember, the more you work truthfully and wholehearted with the worksheets, the better the results.

Help is available online - use the links below to learn more or to take a test.