![]() ![]() ![]() This can be translated to “He’ll get angry at me.” “What if he gets angry at me?” Again, the person is afraid of the possibility of him getting angry at her. It translates to “I won’t be able to pass the test.” “Will I be able to pass the test?” Notice that, here, the person is actually afraid of possibility of not being able to pass the test, and this is why he/she has such a powerful feeling ( anxiety). Not every thought causing powerful feelings can be worked on as an automatic thought , but we can translate many stressful thoughts into automatic thoughts. Not Every Thought Causing Powerful Feelings Can be Worked on as an Automatic Thought, BUT… ![]() He might be at the school on time, but believing the thought is not helping him to achieve his goals related to his work and carreer. Here, the situation affects Jack’s functioning. ” “Oh, they will get sick.” “I have to be there on time.” “I’d better leave early.” Jack is feeling anxious, and cannot continue his work. Then, thinks “What if I can’t be there on time?” “What if they’ll have to wait there for me, in the cold. Jack, being a dad to 3, finds himself thinking “I have to pick up the kids from school at 5 pm. In fact, here, reminding himself that he will be picking up the kids at 5 pm is functional because it is important for him to pick up the kids at the right time. No powerful feeling, nothing to affect his work. He has this thought and then continues working. Here is an example to show how to make the distinction:Ĭhris, being a dad to 3, finds himself thinking “I have to pick up the kids from school at 5 pm. If a thought is not linked to a powerful feeling, or if it doesn’t affect our functioning, we don’t need to work on that thought. Not Every Thought Needs to be ChallengedĪs you can see in the examples above, hot thoughts create powerful feelings. “I can’t do anything!” Here, the person is feeling depressed, and commenting on his own abilities. “He should be more loving.” Here, the feeling is anger, and automatic thought is a comment about someone else’s behavior. “I shouldn’t have eaten that cookie.” Here, the feeling is guilt, and the automatic thought is a comment about what was done in the past. “I won’t be able to pass the exam.” Here, the feeling is anxiety, and the automatic thought is a comment that is predicting what will happen in the future. They are also called hot thoughts. They sound more like comments. However, automatic thoughts are the ones that are most related to our powerful feelings. In this post, I will try to tell you how you can use some of these techniques to identify your own automatic thoughts, but first, let’s start with understanding what an automatic thought is. There are a few techniques, we use in cognitive therapy in order to help clients to identify their automatic thoughts. As the thought is more familiar, more accepted, like a part of the personality, it is more automatic, and the more automatic the thought is, the more difficult it is to detect it. This also happens if the thought is very familiar to the person. Especially, when we are feeling really powerful feelings, such as anxiety, it can be very difficult to identify that particular thought behind that feeling. “I’m afraid, but I don’t know what I’m afraid of.”Īt times like these, the reason behind our unpleasant feelings might be a stressful thought, which we will refer to as an automatic thought. “I don’t know, I just don’t feel well today.” Sometimes, all of a sudden, we find ourselves feeling depressed, anxious, furious, guilty… However, we can’t tell why. In this post, I will try to tell you about what automatic thoughts are and how to identify them. ![]()
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