Coping with automatic thoughts

Here is a strategy I use for dealing with unwanted (psychotic) thoughts. Apart from meds, what ways do you manage unwanted automatic thoughts?

  • What is the thought? Write it down. What is the evidence?
  • Explore rational ways of viewing the thought. What evidence
    disconfirms the thought?
  • Take a few moments to relax. Focus on positive experience (e.g nature,
    goodness, etc.)
  • After emotionally regulating into the positive, return to the
    problematic thought.
  • Stress reduction will enable better problem solving, even when
    dealing with psychosis.
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Im not too familiar with the term automatic thoughts, but maybe it’s the same as intrusive thoughts.

I avoid thinking about intrusive thoughts, which typically brings up more of them, by thought stopping/blocking. Not sure what the technical term is. But as I have an intrusive thought, I confidently assert to myself things like ‘no, we are not going there’ and can avoid thinking about ■■■■■■■■ that way.

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I thought label. I say to myself, “I am having this thought. It is just a random thought and does not reflect on who I am as a person.” Then I let the thought pass through without paying any special attention to it. I don’t get upset by it. Sometimes, if I am having trouble dismissing it, I ask other people around me to talk about an interesting subject to distract me.

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I’ve never been able to get that to work! My mind is like a dog who’s sniffed out something interesting. Doesn’t matter how hard I tug on the leash.

I do have a kind of automated derailing mechanism for the frequent offenders, though, that’s something like your mom determinedly talking over your inappropriate drunk uncle at Thanksgiving. A real life example would be my brain saying, “Remember when you were eleven and you pulled at the corners of your eyes to make them look slanted and your Korean friend defended you when you were called on it?” And as soon as that thought gets started, another part of my brain suddenly shouts, “I SURE DO LIKE MY CAT :two_hearts::two_hearts:” It’s one of my most mortifying memories, an absolute favorite when I want to beat up on myself, but talking about my cats nearly always distracts me :smile_cat:

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This works better for me than anything else. If I additionally have some insight into why the thoughts happen, that helps, too. Meaning, something like, “I have a belief that I’m an essentially flawed, evil creature, and it causes me to sometimes have thoughts like this one.” It helps me with the Just A Thought perspective.

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this is my major symptom. i have a hard time with negative automatic thoughts. sometimes i can recognise them and try to think of something else, sometimes i am trying to think positively and they just replace my good thoughts. So tough to deal with

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I think it’s kind of along the lines OCD… Trained mental responses…

Seeing a type of person and thinking the same thing every time.

Crap like that… Perhaps?

Or maybe even the self-conscious insecure or encouraging type thinking… “I can’t do that” “she’s gonna leave me”… Type crap…

Patterned crap of pavlovian psychology. Hard to do away with… The mind will do whatever it can to not be idle.

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Ah that makes sense, thought habits… makes me think of that epiphany of yours the other day, rewriting yourself by changing vocabulary.

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Yeah it was odd though… I almost mastered the approach in a few hours… then all the sudden the concern faded away…

Like some subconscious stress of disliking my thinking had been lifted and it was easier to relax again…

Those tactics will probably just be stored in the ole repertoire of coping mechanisms to pull me out of the bad patches when they set in…

Still the not using negatives is easy to practice while typing… and I do a lot of that. So hopefully that one will just work itself out…

Thoughts can be so meaningless, accidental, and fleeting… that it’s pretty hard to be concerned with each one…

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Thought insertion is hijack of your internal voice. Only a bad joke.

Some kids and old folks will sound possessed due to this. Will always be upsetting conversation and bad joke…Kid has no clue it’s upsetting so just ignore this stuff…Sadly, got some kids hurt badly with pagans thinking kids were demonic.

This is delusional so expect no help from case. Get angry, get locked up…