Challenging your thinking can help you to become more aware of yourself, your biases and your beliefs as a person. But acknowledging and challenging your thinking can be difficult. While we mostly hear about challenging negative thoughts, it is important to be cognizant of positive and neutral thoughts as well. They make up who we are just as much as the negative thoughts do.

If you have ever battled with negative thoughts, then you are aware of how they can affect your moods, your relationships, and your self-esteem. Addressing negative thoughts is often a topic of significance in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). Challenging or changing negative thoughts can help to re-wire the brain in a less negative way. One technique that is often given as homework in CBT is called a Thought Record. In its simplest form, it is a log of negative thoughts, organized into five columns entitled Situation, Thoughts, Emotions, Behaviors, and Alternate Thought. It is used by the person undergoing CBT, and they are encouraged to write down and examine negative thoughts when they occur.

Another helpful CBT technique is called Though Stopping. While the traditional basis of thought stopping is suppression, modern interpretations of the technique involve a restructuring of cognitions. When a negative thought comes to your mind, say the word STOP out loud. In previous decades, thought stopping would be accompanied by snapping a rubber band on your wrist, or a ding of a bell (all based in classical conditioning), but current interpretations remove the punishment component. Once you have been able to stop the thought, think a more productive thought to yourself. For example, let’s say your negative intrusive thought is “I am dumb because I failed this test”. A more productive replacement thought may be something like “I will study harder for the next test” or “I am having difficulty with this section. I am going to ask my teacher to explain it to me after class”. Thought stopping is just recognizing and acknowledging the negative thoughts, and trying to replace them with more positive, or more productive versions.

CBT and CBT Techniques are not for everyone. So, if you can’t figure it out on your own, there are professionals (like us) to help guide you. You are still strong and valuable if you ask for help.