Just as you have seen ants come in the house and make quite the mess, the ANTS in your brain can also cause some damage. ANTs refers to Automatic Negative Thoughts, which was coined by Dr. Daniel Amen (https://www.amenclinics.com/). There are several ANTS that can infest your thought process, and just like species of ants there are some that leave more of a sting than others (the last three in this list are like fire ants!). You can probably identify some ANTS that you will want to exterminate in the list below:
Automatic Negative Thoughts
- Always Thinking- Generalizing thoughts with “always”, “never”, “everyone”
- Thinking with Your Feelings- Assuming your feelings are correct and not questioning it
- All or Nothing- It is either good or bad. Or, it is black or white kind of thinking
- Focusing on the Negative- Seeing only the negative in situations despite plenty positives
- Guilt Beatings- Thinking in words like could have, would have, should have and such
- Personalization- Believing everything someone says or does is directed to you
- Labeling- Calling yourself or someone else names in negative terms
- Blame- Blaming others for your problems and not taking any responsibility for them
- Fortune Telling- Predicting the worse when you cannot know the outcome of a situation
- Mind Reading- Thinking you know what someone else is thinking though they haven’t told you
These types of thinking can create a self-fulfilling prophecy and become how you are or what you do. For example, if you label yourself a procrastinator you will likely be more apt to wait until last minute to complete things. It isn’t hard to get wrapped up in a vicious cycle with these ANTs. But, there is a way to take control and change that!
Taking Control
Your negative thoughts produce certain chemicals in the brain that further impact your mood and thinking, and your positive thoughts also produce certain chemicals that impact your mood and thinking. To get rid of those pesky ANTs, you have to terminate them with replacement thoughts. Think of your positive thoughts like a spray can of Raid or like and Anteater. I help clients identify their automatic negative thoughts first and identify things that trigger those thoughts. We then explore the client’s values and beliefs to come up with positive thoughts that can replace the negative ones. Often they will place the positive thoughts where they will see them in situations where they feel triggered, such as the bathroom mirror, in a notebook that will be open in class, or sometimes they post them all over the house.
I tell clients when they realize they are being attacked by an ANT to replace it with that positive thought five times. You have to believe your positive thoughts for them to work as replacement thoughts, so dig deep into what you believe or use statements that others whom you believe say about you. If you are spiritual, use scripture or song lyrics to become your positive thoughts. It took many years for your ANTs to grow into what they are, so don’t expect change over night. And, if you feel that your ANTs have created high levels of anxiety, depression, or in some way keeping you from enjoying life as you should, reach out for professional help.
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