Negative Automatic Thoughts: 6 Keys To Managing Them
What we understand by “mind” seems to be a succession of thoughts, images and perceptions that rarely stops. Sometimes we consciously control our mental contents, but most of the time they work automatically, which makes our lives easier.
Negative automatic thoughts are a special case. These are events that cause us unpleasant emotions and interfere with the achievement of our goals; Sometimes this type of thoughts is even attributed a causal and maintenance role in psychological disorders, such as depression.
Automatic thoughts are images and verbalizations that arise spontaneously during everyday life. These types of thoughts appear constantly and are generally adaptive, since we cannot control our mind at all times, but some types of automatic thoughts favor the appearance of disorders.
The main problem with these thoughts is that we tend to take them as true even though we have no evidence to confirm them. As they appear naturally, automatic thoughts fit our sense of identityeven when they are negative, and it can be difficult to distance yourself from them.
Psychiatrist Aaron T. Beck, known for developing the most influential theoretical and therapeutic model within the framework of cognitive therapy, proposed that negative automatic thoughts are the immediate cause of depression symptomssince they cause unpleasant emotions to appear and interfere with behavior.
This concept has subsequently also been applied to other disorders, particularly those related to anxiety, such as obsessive-compulsive disorder, social phobia, and generalized anxiety disorder.
Characteristics of negative automatic thoughts
Negative automatic thoughts share a series of traits that differentiate them from other mental contents. The characteristics that we will describe below refer especially to the analyzes carried out on depression.
1. Involuntariness
As their name suggests, automatic thoughts do not depend on the conscious mind but rather They appear without us wanting it. They are an automatic consequence of the situations we encounter on a daily basis and it is not possible to control them before they appear, although we can manage them once they have arisen.
2. Pessimism
Negative automatic thoughts often contain pessimistic messages, particularly referring to ourselves and our capabilities or personal worth. For example, thoughts similar to “Although I studied, I will fail because I am stupid” are common in many people.
3. Counterproductivity
Pessimism entails self-fulfilling prophecies: since negative automatic thoughts make us doubt ourselves, if we take them as valid interfere with the achievement of our goals. In the example above, the person may approve if he studies, but negative thinking will make it difficult for him to do so.
4. Plausibility
The fact that negative automatic thoughts normally have a plausible character makes it easier for us to identify with them. Furthermore, paying attention to these thoughts leads them to become more realistic; If we believe that we are socially inept, anxiety is more likely to lead us to make mistakes in social interaction.
Although they are believable, negative automatic thoughts are derived from distorted interpretations of reality. They are based on partial truths, but they ignore facts that contradict them and that they are equally true. This characteristic is related to the cognitive distortions that Beck also described.
How to manage automatic thoughts?
Below we will describe an effective procedure to learn to Identify and manage negative automatic thoughts. These steps are based on three techniques developed by Beck: automatic thought recording, the four questions technique, and reality testing.
1. Write down the situation, emotion and thought
At first, negative automatic thoughts can be difficult to detect and work through, so it’s best to start with a simple technique. When feeling an unpleasant emotionsuch as sadness or nerves, this will be used as a cue to note what thoughts or images arise. It is also advisable to note in what situation they occur.
2. Identify recurring thoughts
These types of thoughts tend to be quite idiosyncratic, so it is very common for each person to repeat certain messages. When recording automatic thoughts it is important to pay attention to which appear especially frequently; Thus we could detect a tendency towards catastrophism or perfectionism, for example.
3. Evaluate the degree of realism
Once we have learned to easily identify negative thoughts, it will be time to make the procedure more complex. A very useful strategy is to reflect coldly on the credibility we give to these thoughts and rate it from 0 to 100. The objective is to understand that, although they have some truth, we tend to overvalue it out of emotion.
We can use the recording of thoughts to propose rational messages to replace the automatic ones; This is especially important in the case of recurring thoughts. Must make sure these alternatives are realistic and not pessimists.
Thus, if we frequently think “I’m just talking nonsense,” an alternative message could be “Sometimes I talk about things that don’t interest others much.” We can also rate our degree of confidence in these rational thoughts from 0 to 100.
5. Replace negative thoughts
As we normalize the previous steps as daily strategies, it will be easier for us to replace negative automatic thoughts with rational alternatives; With practice we can do it immediately when detecting negative thoughts. This will help us reduce the negative emotions that arise from them.
6. Do reality tests
Beck presented the reality tests as experiments that test hypotheses of the most relevant automatic thoughts. The type of test will depend on the thinking and the alteration we suffer. In this case it can also be useful to evaluate expectations from 0 to 100 before taking the test, and assess success again afterwards.
For example, in a case of social phobia, the thought “I am unable to talk to strangers without getting very nervous” can be tested by planning brief interactions with people we do not know (for example, asking them what time it is) and increasing the level of challenge. progressively.
