How Has COVID Impacted Your Mental Health
Are you tired of having bad thoughts?
Do you want to learn how to create healthy positive thoughts?
Automatic thoughts are bad or unhealthy thoughts that we experience. The thoughts often take place right after a trigger. Such as, being late to work. After the trigger, we experience the automatic thought which in turn leads to feeling negative or demonstrating an unwanted behavior.
Automatic thoughts can lead people to experience:
- Sadness.
- Feeling on edge.
- Feeling overwhelmed.
- Struggling to make decisions or remain committed.
The process of addressing automatic thoughts start with a plan of action. It is vital to understand the triggers that influence automatic thoughts. And how thoughts can lead to bad feelings and unwanted behaviors.
Below is the sequence to address automatic thoughts:
- What is the trigger?
- What type of thoughts are influenced by the trigger?
- What type of feelings are influenced by thoughts?
- What type of behaviors are influenced by feelings?
The overall goal is to create understanding. Once you have a clear understanding of the process, you can transition to focus on creating change.
Below is an example of the process and how to reduce unwanted and bad automatic thoughts.
The trigger: A bad day at work because I turned in my work late.
Automatic thought: I’m going to get fired.
Feeling experienced from the automatic thought: I feel worthless.
Behavior from the automatic thought: I want to leave work and go home.
Automatic thoughts can be addressed once we understand why they take place and how to create alternative positive statements. Below is an example of the transition from the above unwanted automatic thought to a positive thinking process.
New healthy thought: It’s okay to make mistakes. I will learn and improve from my mistakes.
New healthy behavior: I’m going to talk to my supervisor about my late work. I want to be honest and transparent in order to provide support as needed.
For more helpful resources on anxiety and depression use the links below:
