How To Reduce the Effects of Negative Thinking

In my opinion you can’t reduce your negative thinking by using mantras, affirmations, or other positive thinking strategies. Patterns of negative thought follow certain structures or routines laid down in childhood: we spout forth thoughts arising from crude or primitive beliefs we constructed a long time ago. Don’t be discouraged, however, because you don’t actually need to change the flow of your conscious thoughts in order to gain control over their effects or influence. You see, it is not whether you have a negative thought or not that is important, but the degree to which you actually believe that thought, or give it credence. The more belief you have in a negative thought, the more power it has to influence you in a negative, unhelpful way.

So, you may not be able to control whether a negative thought enters your mind, but you can decide how much you will entertain or believe that thought. This is done by a process of thought analysis, which has the fancy name of “cognitive restructuring”.

You do this by activating the rational, logical, level-sided part of your nature, and objectively evaluating the information available to see whether your thought or prediction has a reality base, or an emotional (unverified) base. (Our thoughts and behaviour are sometimes influenced by ancient, emotionally based interpretations of events created in childhood).

As I write this sentence I may have the catastrophic thought that a meteorite might come crashing through the sky and kill me. Now, before bolting away in panic, I have the choice of asking what evidence I have that this catastrophic event will occur. As I have none, I decide to put zero credence into the thought, and this stops me from getting agitated and abandoning my computer to achieve anticipated safety elsewhere. Now if I don’t do this analysis I might respond to my thoughts and run away and actually develop a habit of running away whenever I have similar “catastrophic” thoughts, because it would feel as if I had been successful in avoiding a personal tragedy. This example may seem far-fetched, but it’s not far off how people develop phobias and obsessive compulsive behaviours. But the main point is the importance of analysing objectively our automatic thoughts and interpretations, including negative self-concepts and low esteem so as to reduce the influence of such negative thoughts.

If you would like to explore ways of reducing guilt click here.

To arrange individual professional coaching or counselling contact Mercurio on 0414 730 866 or email mcpsych@tpg.com.au