Feeling worried every now and again is completely normal. However, negative core beliefs and thinking patterns can be harmful and unhelpful. In this case, it is essential to step back and examine the evidence that supports your thinking patterns and find alternative ways of looking at the situation. This can make a significant positive difference to our mental health and overall wellbeing and relationships.
People with depression or anxiety often experience unhelpful self-statements and thoughts. Psychologists typically refer to them as ‘unhelpful thinking styles’. Anecdotal data shows that people’s unhelpful thinking styles can develop into an ‘auto-pilot’ habit. When unhelpful thoughts and self-talk become the norm, they can negatively impact your emotional wellbeing.
Whether it is the tendency to catastrophise, engage in black-and-white thinking, or constantly compare yourself to others, a psychologist can help you challenge your thinking patterns and learn practical strategies to challenge and reframe negative thoughts and self-talk through the use of CBT Therapy.
More often than not, you are likely unaware of your unhelpful thinking styles. This makes it difficult for you to catch negative thoughts and address them. Knowing what unhelpful thinking looks like will help you identify, challenge, and reframe it.
Types of unhelpful thoughts include the following:
People with this negative thinking style often see one extreme or the other in life situations. Based on this thinking, they are, for instance, either right or wrong, good or bad. There is no middle ground. Using this thinking style often leads people to judge situations, people and themselves based on extremes, quickly triggering negative emotions such as disappointment and frustration.
People with this thinking style commonly ‘filter in’ and ‘filter out’ information about situations or life events. This is typically a helpful process that can help you focus on what is more important or a higher priority in your life, work and relationships. However, for some people, this process can turn into focusing on the negative aspects of a situation and disregarding the positive ones. As a result, they will constantly experience negative feelings that come with constant negative thinking.
People with this thinking style often arrive at conclusions based on little evidence, potentially leading them to think that things are out of their control and feel helpless. For example: ‘You never help me’ or ‘I always have to do things for you’. In this case, people tend to feel frustrated, discouraged and annoyed.
Some people jump to conclusions too quickly without much reasoning or looking at the evidence. Often, people with this thinking pattern can cause themselves a bit of distress.
People who tend to catastrophise often view some situations as terrible, horrible, or awful. Even though the problem may be small or insignificant, for those who care to catastrophise, things can escalate and get big quickly, making them feel hopeless and as if things are outside their control.
With CBT Therapy, a psychologist can help you learn to be objective about your thoughts. It involves asking yourself questions that will challenge your thoughts by assessing information you may have not taken into account to make more informed decisions about your thinking as opposed to simply accepting them as actual facts.
The steps may include examining the evidence and asking yourself questions that challenge your thoughts.
Examining the evidence in CBT involves reviewing the assumptions you make about situations. A psychologist can help you learn to challenge your thoughts and core beliefs by reviewing the evidence for and against them. This will include evidence you may have rejected or disregarded. What evidence supports or works against your thoughts being true?
Challenging your thoughts involves asking yourself questions such as:
The last step is to try and change your negative thoughts to more positive ones. From the questions used to challenge your thoughts, how can you reframe the situation? What would you say to a friend if they asked you for advice?
Ideally, you would reframe your thoughts to something like:
Catching negative thinking, examining your thoughts and changing them may seem difficult at first. Developing the habit of performing each step can take some time. As always, with practice, it will get better and easier over time.
Often, psychologists recommend clients use a tool called a CBT thought record or diary to help them catch and examine their thoughts. A thought record may include the following:
For example: “I am annoyed at myself for forgetting to buy milk.”
For example: “Frustrated.”
For example: “I always forget things. I can’t be trusted.”
For example: “I often forget to do these errands.”
For example: “I do remember most errands I need to be done. Usually, I am reliable.”
For example: “I do remember to buy milk more often than not. I am a trustworthy person.”
For example: “I feel better and more confident. Everyone forgets things from time to time.”
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