As human beings we all have streams of automatic thoughts. Many of these are useful to us so we can go about our daily tasks without too much effort. But when our automatic thoughts are negative and critical they can be damaging to our well-being; creating feelings of self-doubt, depression, anxiety, anger, irritability and low mood. We need to recognize these thoughts in order to negate their negative effects on us.
These ‘negative automatic thoughts’ or NATS (as coined by psychologist Aaron Beck) are negatively framed interpretations of what we think is happening to us. I have spoken of these thoughts previously as our ‘inner critical voice’. This inner voice is not fact, but a distorted and belittling opinion that we do not have to listen to.
How to recognize Negative Automatic Thoughts (NATs)
Next time you are feeling low see if you can take a moment to reflect on what emotions you are feeling and what your inner voice is saying. For example next time you feel 'sad' (for example) think to yourself ‘what thoughts are in my head’. Write these down. Then look at these thoughts and think about the following questions:
Are the thoughts automatic? Did they just pop into your head without you even noticing? How long have they been going on for; just now, half hour, all day?
Are they negative?
If you said these things to someone else would they be fair comments or belittling words?
Do the thoughts make you feel bad about yourself? Are they self critical? Things like ‘I’m a failure’ ‘I’m useless’ ‘I’m worthless’. These are generalized negative comments. They have no standing in reason.
Are the thoughts self sabotaging? Do they try to make you avoid doing something that may be beneficial? Things like ‘why even call, they wont want to hear from me’ or ‘don’t even apply, I wont get it’
Are they biased or distorted? Thoughts that don’t fit with reality. Thoughts that focus on one negative reason and ignore a bundle of positive ones. For example after not hearing from a friend for a few days your negative voice says ‘it’s because they don’t like me’ and completely ignore the fact they are a life-long friend who you speak to regularly and that they have been busy this past week.
Are they unhelpful thoughts? Do these thoughts encourage you to do something positive? Do you learn from them? Or do they just leave you feeling low and unmotivated to carry on?
When you thoughts fit into these questions you can be pretty sure you have come across your automatic negative thoughts, your inner critical voice. Well done, now you can recognize them you have taken the first step to removing their negative power. After this comes to tools you can employ to negate these thoughts (coming soon)
Here are some areas popularly categorized by CBT (cognitive brain therapy) which are called thought traps. They can help you identify your inner voice even further and by doing so understand what unhelpful traps you are letting your thoughts fall into (taken from this Fife NHS psychology booklet):
Mind reading: Believing that you know what another is thinking. Example: “He thinks I’m a loser.”
Labelling: Calling yourself or others names. Example: “I’m a failure,” “He’s an idiot,” “I’m useless”.
Fortune telling/crystal balling: Making negative predictions about the future Example: “I’ll get rejected,” “I’ll make a fool of myself.”
Catastrophising: Predicting the absolute worst case scenario, ‘making a mountain out of a molehill’.
Over generalising: if something didn’t work out once, assuming it never will. Example: If you have been working hard one day but don’t quite finish everything, you may think “I’ve got nothing done” and this deprives you from a sense of achievement for what you have done.
All-or-Nothing Thinking: seeing things as being either, or. Example: black or white with no shades of grey, success or failure, good or bad.
Ignoring the Positives: focusing on the negative in a situation rather than seeing the whole picture. Example: You have done well in a task at work, but you keep focusing on earlier mistakes. You have good friends that have known you for years but you focus on the friendships that didn’t work out.
Emotional Reasoning: using your emotions or mood as a means of interpreting whats happening around you Example: I feel uptight so something dreadful is about to happen
Personalising: taking things personally, assuming responsibility Example: My neighbour did not speak to me this morning, therefore I must have done something to upset them; or my boss is irritable today so I must have annoyed her.
Shoulds and Musts: assuming that things have to be a certain way, that we have to abide by certain rules Example: I should always give everything I do 100%, I must not fail, or I must not be rude so other should not be either.
There are worksheets and CBT techniques we can use to recognize, analyse and dispute these negative thoughts to create more positive alternative pathways in our brains. I would like to share these with you. You have the power to create change in you, you can change pessimistic thoughts into optimistic ones.