Stop negative thoughts with these five CBT techniques. Learn how to recognize cognitive distortions and develop more positive ways of thinking.
Positive thinking makes it easier to stay focused, sleep better, cope with stress and stay away from drugs and alcohol. With some practice and a few CBT techniques, you can learn how to stop negative thoughts the minute they come up.
Where Do Negative Thoughts Come From?
Negative thoughts are often fueled by unhelpful attitudes or beliefs called cognitive distortions. These faulty thinking patterns run subtly in the background of your mind. They can affect how you see yourself, others and the world.
Cognitive distortions come in many forms, but they all lead to negative thoughts that are exaggerated, irrational or untrue. Do you recognize any of these common distortions in your own thinking?
- All-or-nothing thinking (black-and-white thinking). Seeing things as all good or all bad, with no middle ground. “I didn’t get the job, so I’m a complete failure.”
- Overgeneralization. Making broad conclusions based on one event. “I made a mistake in my presentation; I’m always terrible at public speaking.”
- Catastrophizing. Expecting the worst-case scenario or minimizing the importance of positive events. “I missed my bus, and now my whole day is ruined.”
- Filtering. Selectively focusing on the negative details of a situation while ignoring the positive. “I aced the test, but I can’t stop thinking about the one stupid question I got wrong.”
- Mind reading. Assuming you know what others are thinking and that they view you negatively. “I can tell by the way she looked at me that she hates me.”
- Fortune telling (predicting the future). Predicting negative outcomes without any proof. “I won’t even bother applying for the promotion; they’ll never choose me.”
- Emotional reasoning. Believing that because you feel a certain way, it must be true. “I’m so anxious about hosting the party, which means it’s going to be a disaster.”
- Should statements. Setting unrealistic standards for yourself or others. “I should always be perfect in everything I do.”
- Personalization. Taking responsibility for events outside your control or blaming yourself for everything. “It’s my fault my friend is upset; I must have done something wrong.”
- Labeling and mislabeling. Applying negative labels to yourself or others based on errors or mistakes. “I forgot to call my aunt on her birthday; I’m a terrible person.”
How CBT Can Help
According to the American Psychological Association, cognitive behavioral therapy or CBT is a short-term therapy approach that helps change negative thought patterns and beliefs. By becoming more aware of cognitive distortions and challenging your negative thinking, you’ll develop a more balanced and realistic outlook on life. Good mental habits can lead to improvements for a variety of problems, including drug use, marital issues, eating disorders and severe mental illness.
5 Thought-Stopping Techniques
Many cognitive behavioral therapy techniques and tools are available to you, whether you practice them on your own or with the help of a therapist. Consider these five.
1. Journaling
Journaling is the act of regularly jotting down your thoughts, feelings, ideas and daily events. Psychological journaling as part of CBT focuses on two specific qualities:
- First, you open up your thoughts and feelings to a broader perspective. You take your thoughts and feelings and reflect on them as they relate to your whole life. By putting your feelings down on paper and looking at the big picture, it’s easier to work through them.
- Second, by putting thoughts down on paper, you also get a better perspective on why you’re feeling the way you do. This makes it easier for you to change your views.
For CBT, journaling should follow a basic format.
- Start with the emotions you want to focus on. Use statements like “I felt” or “I feel.”
- Describe the event that makes you come to those emotions.
- Explain why this made you feel the way you do.
- Challenge yourself to change your reoccurring thoughts and reactions.
- Examine how you could respond differently.
Cognitive journaling works if you get in the habit of doing it regularly and address negative thoughts as soon as possible.
2. Progressive Muscle Relaxation
There’s a strong link between your thoughts and how you feel. When tension and stress manifest themselves throughout the body, they can cause headaches and a general feeling of being unwell.
For progressive muscle relaxation, start by tensing all the muscles in one area of the body, such as your leg. Slowly relax one group of muscles at a time until all the muscles in your leg are relaxed.
Do this with all areas of your body until you’re completely relaxed. This is an excellent way to help calm your nerves and preoccupy your mind when it starts thinking negative thoughts.
3. Relaxed Breathing
Individuals who suffer from panic attacks and anxiety may use deep breathing to slow the heart and overcome an episode. There are many ways to make your breathing regular and relax the entire body.
One way is to get into a comfortable position. Breathe in deeply through your nose. Let your stomach and diaphragm fill completely with air.
Hold this for a few seconds, then breathe out slowly through the mouth. Place your hand on your stomach so you can feel the air releasing when you exhale and rising when you inhale.
Take at least three more full breaths or until your heart begins to slow and you feel relaxed. Relaxed breathing can provide a wealth of benefits, including:
- Lowering the stress hormones in your body
- Lowering your heart rate
- Helping lower blood pressure
- Improving core muscle stability
- Helping you cope with post-traumatic stress
- Improving your ability to tolerate exercise
4. Cognitive Restructuring
Cognitive restructuring helps you examine your negative thoughts and figure out why you came to believe them. Once you learn to identify cognitive distortions, you can work to overcome them.
Most patients with depression didn’t start out feeling the way they do. Something triggered or caused these reactions, which led to an automatic response. Think back to when you first started feeling the way you do about a particular event or situation. Challenge these negative thoughts.
For example, if you think having a lot of money makes you a respected member of society and then you lose your money in the stock market, such a loss can make you feel bad about yourself. Rather than allowing these erroneous assumptions to take root, examine what makes a person respected. Instead of focusing on the negative aspects of your faulty beliefs, you learn to concentrate on positive thoughts.
Once you realize you’re having intrusive thoughts, the main goal is to treat yourself with compassion. Instead of feeling like a failure, learn to accept mistakes and unwanted thoughts and focus on changing them. As you start to be kinder to yourself, you’ll notice you’re kinder to those around you.
5. ABC Functional Analysis
Also referred to as antecedent-behavior-consequence analysis, the ABC model helps people examine specific behaviors they want to change, the triggers of those behaviors and how the triggers impact daily life. With this model, you start by identifying and writing down a specific negative behavior, what led up to it (the antecedent) and what happened right after the event (the consequence).
ABC is one of the simplest forms of behavioral observation and insight. To create an ABC worksheet, make a chart with three columns. In the middle, list the problematic behaviors in order as they occurred. On the left, jot down the antecedents, and on the right, take note of the consequences.
Once you’ve collected several days or weeks of observations, it’s possible to go back and see the thought patterns that exist. If the results lead to a wide range of behaviors that are hard to analyze on your own, it may be a good idea to locate a professional with a background in applied behavior analysis.
If you or your loved one is suffering from substance abuse or a mental health issue and finding it hard to cope, FHE can help. Contact us now for medical advice, diagnosis or treatment options. We have a team of caring staff members available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We’re here to answer any questions and help you start your journey toward recovery.
