Automatic Negative Thoughts (ANTs) are thoughts that may occur anytime, anywhere, and are generally directed to yourself in a negative way. They can be pretty awful thoughts to have and tend to occur at greater frequency when you are feeling anxious, stressed, or vulnerable. Sometimes these NATs can be an attack on your own intelligence or job performance -why am I so stupid?, sometimes they can be about your self-image - you’re never going to look the way you want, so don’t even bother trying, or to your detriment, be self-harming or promote thoughts of suicide - no one cares about me, It would be better if I didn’t exist. Most people have experienced ANTs from time to time in some way, shape, or form. Luckily, there are ways to manage these unhelpful thoughts so they do not intrude on your daily activities or negatively impact your mental and physical health.
The first step in overcoming negative thoughts is to increase your awareness of them happening. Sometimes, they can occur so quickly that your conscious brain doesn’t even catch them, but you feel bad about yourself regardless. We typically feel the thought before we are even aware we are having it, meaning that we can be caught off guard. At this point, it is important to try and trace the feeling back to the thought itself. Meditation can be very helpful in cases like this, where attention to your thoughts is practiced. This is where a regular meditation practice can be especially beneficial; by being more in tune with your thoughts and learning how to observe them with a little bit of objectivity, you can teach yourself to catch these thoughts as they occur. Try sitting with your thoughts and focusing on your breath for 10 minutes each day, you may be surprised on how it changes your life for the better. Another tool to increase your awareness is to write them down as they occur.
Once you are more in tune with your thoughts and increase your awareness of these ANTs, there are several ways to deal with them. Firstly, ask yourself how much you believe the thought when you catch it. If you think -I haven’t had a date in 3 months, no one will ever want to be with me!, how much do you believe it? Remember that if you realize and accept that the ANT is not accurate or irrational, you can then allow it to pass as a distortion. This can be easier said than done with particularly sticky and reoccurring ANTs. Other times, we buy in to what we think about ourselves. This is when you need to challenge the ANT. If you think to yourself -I am unworthy of love, and feel that this could be true, ask yourself if there is any substantial evidence for this thought. Then, ask yourself if there is any evidence against this thought. Usually there will be plenty of facts that challenge or soften the ANT, sometimes it just takes some effort to find them. This can be hard because of confirmation bias, meaning we only seek out information or examples that reinforce our thought. Lastly, it can be effective to ask yourself what you would say to a friend who shared with you that they were having thoughts like that. We are generally kinder to our friends and families than we are to ourselves, so using that as a guide means that whatever you would say to them, you could say to yourself.
These ANTs can feel like they hold a lot of power over you, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Identifying and challenging them is like building a muscle: it can be difficult at first, but the more practice you have, the better you get. Eventually, the hope is that the ANTs occur less and less frequently leaving you time to focus on the more positive aspects of your life.
Robert Baker, RCC
Walmsley EFAP