ANTs (Automatic Negative Thoughts)

Do you ever feel like your brain is creating new thoughts at all times? As if the slightest movement or change will create a million new pop-ups for you to consider and try to click away. These rampant thoughts make up our day. From the most mundane like what to make for dinner or to the silliest like what if trees got haircuts. But, there is another form of thought that is nothing new to the human experience - automatic negative thoughts. Although psychiatrist Dr. Aaron Beck, who brought this concept to life, shortens these intrusive thoughts to be called ANTs. And just like the disruptive little creatures they are cutely abbreviated to, these negative thoughts like to wiggle their way into things to make our lives less fun. 

To be fair, not all negative thoughts are bad. They are another part of life that serve to protect us from different threats and help us to solve issues. Yet, sometimes our brains take it a bit too far when it comes to helping us. 

Have you ever noticed how wild our imaginations get when we overthink a problem or picture certain situations? We can drive ourselves mad thinking about all the risks and issues that might arise before even considering that everything could be fine. This is what these little ANTs thrive off of. They like to distort reality and put us down to make us believe that they are protecting us. 

But to be honest, these negative thoughts are only doing so much. Once they get out of hand, it’s hard to see past the negativity and what really lies out there. 

Do you have any bad habits? Like biting your nails or spending too much time on social media? We get chastised to quit these habits because they are not great for our overall health. Well, automatic negative thoughts are another bad habit we can be guilty of. It’s so easy to fall into the trap of making these thoughts a part of our every day, thus affecting our health. They can cause chronic stress which can alter our brain’s chemistry, such as the depletion of beneficial neurotransmitters such as serotonin and dopamine, two hormones that promote well-being and happiness. It can also slow the production of a protein that is necessary for new brain cell information. As well as a growth in the amygdala, the brain’s fear section and an acceleration in the brain’s aging process. Not only does it affect your brain, but negative thoughts can impact your everyday life with stress and fear keeping you from living your life comfortably. 

I don’t know about you, but this does not seem like a fair trade. Dr. Beck also felt the same. He recognized in his patients with depression the random cycles of negative thoughts they were having making a drastic impact on their happiness. Beck put together the three main categories these negative thoughts fall into - negative thoughts about the world, themselves, and the future. 

To make matters trickier, our brains can interrupt these negative thoughts as facts, even if they are far from it. Just like our brains can convince us something is not real, they can make us truly believe that other things are. This is referred to as our cognitive bias, and trust me, there are plenty of them (as many as 200 biases). Yet, Psychiatrist, Dr. Daniel Amen has taken the time to break down these ANTs into nine of the most common patterns.

1. Black and White Thinking - “I’m always the last one to finish my work. I will never make my parent proud with my grades. Everybody in my class is smarter than me.’ These are negative thoughts at play limiting the possibility of another reality or reason. With this thinking, there is no way for there to be more to the situation or a different outcome than what is believed. 
2. Focusing on the Negative - “We will probably get there late and miss all the trailers. It’s probably a bad movie anyway. I will be so glad when this is finally over.” In these negative thoughts, a fun time is quickly diminished by negative thinking. It’s easy to think negatively, but it ruins the possibility of a good time.
3. Fortune Telling - “I know I won’t get the part. What’s the point of even auditioning if I know they will just laugh me off the stage? Everyone is just going to make fun of me anyways.” This negative spiral is predicting the future as anything but positive. It is predicting a scary situation as the only possible solution, thus making it easy to avoid despite it being what someone wants to do. 
4. Mind Reading - “She looks unhappy; she must be having a terrible time with me. I just know she thinks about how annoying I am. I bet she’s counting down the minutes until she can leave.” With this negative thought, you assume what people are thinking. Not only that, you assume that it’s all negative things about you. This negative thought prevents you from realizing that the other person is not thinking of you or feeling any negative way toward you. This can make you feel anxious and on edge whenever you are around them.
5. Thinking with your feelings - “I am so stupid for getting that answer wrong. I’ve always been stupid. My teachers must be pitying me by letting me pass.” In this negative thought, one small bad thought from a situation turns into the overall truth. You won't find a reason in challenging or questioning it because it's easier to put yourself down than realize this negative thought is not the case. 
6. Ruled by “Shoulds” - “I should be able to write this essay easily. I shouldn’t have this much trouble figuring out what to write. I should be done already like everyone else.” This negative thought uses "shoulds" to guilt yourself without considering why or why not this is the case. There is always more to the surface about what we 'should" or "shouldn’t" be doing. We are all different with different experiences and reasons why we are not all the same. 
7. Labeling - “I didn’t open the door for that lady; I’m such a bad person. I’m a bad person for not helping my mom with dinner. They probably think I’m a bad person for not helping my friend." With this negative thought, all you do is put negative labels on yourself and others. It's never helpful to consider yourself in a negative light just because of one instance. It will only create a spiral of considering yourself these labels and then overcompensating to prove it wrong. 
8. Taking Things Personally - “It’s my fault everyone is quiet. I must be boring because no one is laughing. They are wanting to leave; It must be because my party is lame." This negative thought disrupts a fun time with the constant concern that you are a problem and reading into others' actions and feelings. It’s hard to remember that not everything people feel or think is about you. The plain truth is the world doesn’t revolve around you and the supposed problem you think you are.
9. Blame - “It’s her fault that we got in trouble. She doesn’t care how much trouble I will get in. I will make sure to tell my parents that she put me up to it.” The last negative thought regards blaming others for your problems and issues. Yet, in the end, you are responsible for your actions, thoughts, and responses despite what happens.

A little daunting, I know. I even recognized a lot of the ANTs that wiggle around in my mind from this list. However, there are ways to start facing these ANTs and making them less of a spotlight in your mind!

You may have already started! By reading through these different ANTs, you probably noticed the ones you might have. This is the first step! By recognizing which ones seem to be the most common for you, you can start working to understand and shift these thoughts. This brings us to the next tip. By catching and writing down your negative thoughts, you can practice rewriting them into more positive thoughts. This can help break the habit of having negative thoughts be the only ones out there. Ask these thoughts questions and interrogate their believability. Sometimes these thoughts just pass by like normal, but take a moment to see what they are really about. You might spot some fake reality ones that don’t serve you at all!

You may even want to pretend these thoughts are coming from something else. Instead of feeling weighed down by the negative thoughts you tell yourself, pretend they are coming from a monster or a critic who only wants to heckle you and make life harder. This way you can see these thoughts as unhelpful whisperings from the creature pestering you. Plus you can imagine defeating these unruly negative beasts from pushing you down!

Embrace your inner eye-rolls by looking at each of the repetitive negative thoughts as soooo boring. I mean they can’t come up with anything better than wanting to put you down, so unoriginal. This is a fun way to play off the not-so-great thoughts as ones that are trying too hard to be something when honestly, they are nothing. So take those thoughts and toss them right over your shoulder, and for good measure, do a sassy hair flip as you walk off. 

Lastly, replace those "should" and "shouldn't." There are so many more productive words to use in place of those guilt-driven ones. You can justly rationalize these thoughts instead of making them an all-or-nothing statement. Such as, I should be productive. How about we reframe that to why you want to be productive or how being productive matters to you? Being productive makes me feel good and accomplished. I want to get these things done to get them off my plate. I got a lot of stuff done earlier, so I can relax for a bit. By reframing these "shoulds" and "shouldn’ts" your thoughts can feel more rationalized and personalized to you. 

I know it seems like a lot, especially when negative thoughts can just stick in your mind like an ant infestation. But with enough care and mindfulness, these negative thoughts won’t feel so overwhelming. 

Just remember that these thoughts don’t define who you are. Take this as a chance to embrace the real you instead of the you these thoughts make you feel bad or guilty about! It’s all about taking care of you because in the end loving yourself is the greatest gift you can ever have!

And for worksheets and lessons on negative thoughts and other types of negative thinking from Therapist Aid, check out the links below!