Looking at thoughts
Sometimes, our brains play tricks on us. They send us thoughts that aren’t always true or helpful; these are called negative automatic thoughts (or NATs for short).
NATs can pop up when you’re feeling nervous or worried, like before a test, when a friend doesn’t reply to a message, or when something doesn’t go as planned. These thoughts can make you feel sad, worried, or even angry, and they can make tricky situations feel even worse than they are.
But here’s the good news:
- When you can spot these thoughts, you can start to challenge them.
- You can learn to be the boss of your thoughts, instead of letting them boss you around.
How to recognise and identify NATs
Identifying negative thoughts involves paying close attention to the thoughts you have and any events that may trigger these thoughts.
It can be difficult to do this at first; however, if you keep trying, it will get easier.
Common types of negative automatic thoughts:
All or nothing thinking:
Viewing situations in black and white categories without recognising any middle ground.
Overgeneralisation:
Taking a single event and generalising it to your entire life. For instance, failing at one test, may lead you to think “I will fail every test”.
Mental filtering:
Focusing exclusively on the negative aspects of a situation while ignoring any positive ones.
Disqualifying the positive:
Convincing yourself that positive things, such as compliments or positive feedback, don’t count.
Jumping to conclusions:
Assuming that something will be go wrong, or be negative, without definite facts. This includes mind-reading (assuming the thoughts and intentions of others) and fortune-telling (predicting things will turn out badly).
Magnification (catastrophising) or minimisation:
Magnifying negative aspects of a situation or minimising positive ones.
Emotional reasoning:
The belief that if you feel something, it must be true.
Should statements:
Using “should,” “ought,” or “must” to motivate yourself, may lead to guilt and frustration.
Labelling and mislabelling:
Assigning general negative labels to yourself or others based on specific events.
Self-blame:
Attributing external events to your own actions, even when you have no control over them.
Real-life examples of these thoughts:
Family – “My sister took my things. She must hate me.”
Friends – “My friend didn’t come over. I bet they’re mad at me.”
School – “I got a bad grade on a test. I’m not very smart.”
Recognising these types of thoughts is the first step toward managing them. It’s about developing a keen awareness of your thought patterns and the situations that trigger negative thinking. When you start to notice these thoughts, you can begin to question their validity, challenge their truth, and gradually replace them with more balanced and realistic thoughts.
How to start changing these thoughts:
Notice them
Start by listening for these thoughts in your head.
Name them
“Oh that’s an all or nothing thought”.
Check if they’re really true
Are there other ways to see the situation?
Replace them
Replace them with positive thoughts.
A skill you can grow
Spotting these thoughts takes practice, just like learning to ride a bike or playing a new game. But the more you practice, the easier it gets.
Spend a few minutes now thinking about any tricky thoughts you’ve had lately? Try to figure out what kind of thoughts they are and how to handle them in a more positive, braver way.