The last blog post covered cognitive distortions and how these can hold you back. In this blog post, you’ll learn how to challenge these automatic negative beliefs.
Have you ever thought about how much time you spend replaying negative events in the past, focusing on parts of your life that you don’t like or worrying about the future? These types of thoughts are called automatic negative thoughts. They are quite common and usually occur without much thought. That is why they are called automatic negative thoughts (ANTs). The problem with these types of ideas is that they often involve cognitive distortions that are punishing emotionally. These thoughts can trigger depression and anxiety and keep you from focusing on what’s important.1
The good news is that with consistent practice, you can challenge and replace ANTs with thought patterns that are more adaptive. Here is a step-by-step guide to challenging automatic negative thoughts.
1: Recognize Negative or Distorted Thoughts
The very first step in dealing with automatic negative thoughts is to recognize them. Usually, these thoughts are distortions, meaning that they are not accurate. However, they are often plausible enough that you believe them. So, how can you tell when you are experiencing ANTs? Learn to recognize cognitive distortions. For more information about cognitive distortions, check out this blog post.
2: Write Down Negative Thoughts
Pay particular attention to your thoughts. Take note of any cognitive distortions or similar ANTs and write them down. Keeping track of them is very important so that you can later challenge them. To make things easier, you could use try using a note-taking app like Evernote. These apps make recording thoughts easy. Evernote has lots of templates that you can use, or you can make your own.
3: Challenge the Thought
The next step is to write down the negative thought or cognitive distortion and challenge it. When you have a distorted thought, ask yourself “is this accurate?” If a friend said this about himself, what would you say? You would probably offer a counter-argument.
Challenge yourself in the same way. Think of a more balanced and realistic thought to take the place of the distortion. Here is an example. You fail an exam. Even though you have an A+ in the course and cannot possibly fail because of one poor grade, you think “I will surely fail this class.” Ask yourself “is this true?” If not, then think of a more realistic thought to take the place of the negative one.
4: Take Note Of Your Emotions
If you keep a notebook of distorted thoughts and challenges, make sure you also record your emotions. Write down your feeling before challenging the idea and afterward. How did questioning the distorted view change your feelings? You will start to notice that distorted thoughts trigger negative emotions like guilt, sadness or anger. In time, you will see that being kind and fair to yourself results in more positive emotions.
