Often, I have clients who are plagued by negative thinking. I define negative thinking as thoughts about yourself, others, or the world in general that are characterized by negative perceptions, expectations, and attributions. These thoughts can be associated with unpleasant emotions and adverse behavioural, physiological and health outcomes. Literally you can make yourself sick from your thinking. These thoughts or sometimes referred to as cognitive distortions which are faulty thinking patterns that can play a role in causing problems such as poor self-esteem, depression or anxiety.
The cause of negative thought can be varied such as, stress, genetic predisposition, an upsetting life event, something that was frightening makes you see the world differently. These can distort your perception of the world. In Cognitive Behaviour Therapy these are called ANTs (automated negative thoughts). Our brains can get stuck on the same old neuron pathways, causing negative thoughts to arise again and again. Although, we would like to flick a switch and shut the negative thinking down, it is not always that simple.
So, what can we do to change negative thoughts and the damaging effects. First, you have to be aware of the thinking, “catch it” so to speak. Awareness helps you learn to identify the negative thought as negative and then it becomes a way to learn how to change the thinking to a positive. One way is to imagine that the negative thought has a human presence, name it, like Bob or Yuck then draw a likeness and write all the negative thoughts around it, then beside each negative thought write a positive one. Of course I am making it sound simple, the hard part is changing the pattern, this unlearning can take some work, but the change will be rewarding in seeing life as not so much of a challenge and engaging in joy without the fear. This can bring you so much peace.
Have questions, ask me, info@mindhealthconnect.ca
Ref: https://www.verywellmind.com
Ref: healthyplace.com