Dr. Daniel Amen came up with the term Automatic Negative Thoughts (ANTs) in the 1990s. These are negative, gloomy, and complaining thoughts that just seem to show. We can all get these at different times. The more they build up, the more distress we experience and have to manage. Below are different types of ANTs and different strategies for beginning to challenge them. ANTs are part of a cycle that interact with our feelings and behaviors; this is a cycle that can be broken!
Read MoreDid you ever have a thought that you absolutely believed to be true and it turned out that you blew it out of proportion, misinterpreted it, ignored the facts or simply got it wrong??
Probably, because this is super common!! Sometimes, your mind might convince you of things that simply aren’t true. This is called cognitive distortion. If you have ever heard an underweight person claim they are "obese" or a person with a 4.0 GPA state that they have to "try harder," then you understand cognitive distortions. These statements are not based in reality but, rather, in ideas or thoughts or beliefs that are not facts. The mind is very powerful and, often times, it lies to you! Here are five common cognitive distortion “traps”...
