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Cognitive Behavior Therapy: Challenging Your Automatic Thoughts 

Roamers Therapy | April 2024

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is one of the first modalities that comes to mind when we think of therapy modalities. According to Norcross and Karpiak’s research, it is one of the common theoretical approaches used by 19-31% of American mental health professionals. CBT is originally developed by Aaron T. Beck in the early 1960s as a structured and short-term therapy for depression. However, with the theoretical contributions of other theorists such as Albert Ellis, Donald Meichenbaum, and Albert Lazarus, it has evolved into an evidence-based model frequently used today. In this model, thoughts play a central role in depressive symptoms, anxiety, and other emotional changes and the maintenance of these emotions. Beck’s cognitive model suggests that there are many levels of cognitive appraisal. According to the model, the person distorts the situation they encounter because of the current cognitive/thought framework. The “automatic thoughts” that arise as a result of this distortion lead to the emergence of a dysfunctional set of emotions and often behaviors related to these emotions. The most superficial level is the automatic thoughts that arise spontaneously and are associated with problematic behaviors or feelings that disturb the person. Let’s take a closer look at automatic thoughts and how to reframe them.

What are Automatic Thoughts?

According to an article published in Nature in 2020, 60,000 thoughts pass through our minds daily. We can define these thoughts as verbal or imaginary components of our stream of consciousness. Some of these thoughts are voluntary, i.e., guided thoughts, while others are involuntary, i.e., automatic thoughts. Automatic thoughts are unique to the individual and occur suddenly. They arise spontaneously after or before an event, have no continuity, and are involuntary. You can think of them as short and interrupted expressions such as messages. Although automatic thoughts are close to the level of consciousness, they are not subject to careful analysis. Therefore, most of them are accepted as true without examination. Given the fact that most of them are negative, they give rise to negative evaluations about the events experienced. One of the main clues about automatic thoughts is that they occur before or during intense emotional states. If you cannot understand why you feel the way you do in certain situations, trying to catch your automatic thoughts can be a good opportunity to get to know yourself. According to Beck’s cognitive model, your automatic thoughts depend on a rule, attitude, or assumption that you have. This rule attitude or assumption is linked to your core beliefs, which can be defined as fundamental beliefs about the self, others, or the world by APA. Identifying your negative automatic thought is the most basic and concrete step in making sense of why you react the way you do to an event. The more negative automatic thoughts you catch, the easier you will recognize your patterns. The more awareness you gain, the more you will be able to take action to prevent maladaptive behaviors. 

Cognitive Distortions

Automatic negative thoughts are quite diverse, and they can be broadly defined as “cognitive distortions.” Cognitive distortions describe irrational, exaggerated thinking that distorts a person’s perception of reality, often in a negative way. According to the American Psychological Association (APA), cognitive distortion, defined as erroneous or inaccurate thinking, perceiving, or believing, is actually our biased perspectives on ourselves and the world around us. These are patterns that we reinforce over time without realizing it. We describe the most common of these cognitive distortions in one sentence.

  • Dichotomous Thinking is the evaluation of experiences from two extremes: a situation is either too perfect or too awful. 
  • Overgeneralization is the tendency to draw conclusions based on one or a few events that cover all situations. 
  • Mental Filter (Selective Abstractions) is the tendency to ignore the whole picture of a situation by ignoring other aspects and defining the whole situation from the perspective of the selected detail. 
  • Mind reading is the tendency to think you know the other person’s thoughts and feelings without evidence. 
  • Fortune Telling (Catastrophizing) is the tendency to assume that one can predict future events and that these events will turn out negatively. 
  • Maximization or Minimization is the tendency to magnify or minimize persons or events around them disproportionately. 
  • Emotional Reasoning is the tendency to belief that something is the way it is simply because it feels that way, ignoring or neglecting evidence to the contrary. 
  • Should Phrases are the tendency to have strict and rigid rules about how oneself or others should behave or how things should be.
  • Labeling is the tendency to attach general labels to oneself or others, such as ” failure, stupid.” 
  • Personalization is the tendency to blame to self for the negativities that arise even though there are different causes. 
  • Blaming others is the tendency to blame others for one’s emotions or behaviors. 
  • What if? is the tendency to constantly ask oneself the “what if” question and not be satisfied with the answers.
  • Unfair Comparison is the tendency to think of being in a disadvantageous position by comparing oneself to someone not in equal conditions.

Tracking Your Automatic Thoughts

You can start by asking yourself some questions to track your automatic thoughts. These questions can include what was going through your mind at the moment, when you felt the most intense distress while experiencing a situation or event, what you were saying to yourself, and whether any images came to your mind at that moment. These questions will help you uncover these thoughts. 

However, these questions may not always be enough to find automatic thoughts. In this case, you may need to ask extra questions such as what made you feel this way in the event you experienced? For example, if you experience sadness after an event, you can ask questions such as what does this emotion tell about you or what does it mean to you? For example, if your emotion is fear, you can ask questions such as, what is the worst thing that could happen? What harm could it do to you? If your emotion is anger, you can ask extra questions, such as what it means about other people or what not to do. Keeping a thought record of these questions after the event can give you insights to catch your automatic thoughts and recognize cognitive distortions if you have any. 

Reframing Your Automatic Thoughts

Once you have practiced completing a thought record and tracking your automatic thoughts, you build awareness around your negative thoughts and can more easily catch them when they arise. This awareness is essential in strengthening our understanding of the relationship between our thoughts, feelings, and behavior. You might be wondering, “Okay, but what now? I still keep having all these negative automatic thoughts.” The next step in this process is to begin practicing challenging your automatic thoughts by reframing them. For this purpose, try adding a column labeled ‘New Thought’ to your thought record. Here are a few examples of reframed thoughts:

  • Negative Automatic Thought: “My friend is mad at me. No one likes me.”
  • New Thought: “I know my friend cares about me. Maybe she’s just having a bad day.”
  • Negative Automatic Thought: “I’m a burden and I can’t take up space”
  • New Thought: “I deserve to take up space.”
  • Negative Automatic Thought: “I’m not good enough. I’m never going to get the grade I want.”
  • New Thought: “This is really hard for me, but I’m trying my best. Maybe I can do better next time if I ask my teacher for help.”

Oftentimes, our negative automatic thoughts are not based on reality. It is our mind’s response to a difficult or triggering situation. When we reframe our thoughts, we begin to “right-size” them. This means they don’t exist in extremes or irrationality but challenge them to be more rational. Another tool that can help us challenge and reframe our automatic thoughts is through the process of “Reviewing the Evidence.” This means that we gather evidence for and against our automatic thought, almost like they were on opposite sides of a court case. Here’s an example using one of the thoughts from above:

  • Negative Automatic Thought: “My friend is mad at me. No one likes me.”
  • New Thought: “I know my friend cares about me. Maybe she’s just having a bad day.”

Evidence For:

  • My friend hadn’t texted me when I asked her to hang out. It’s been 2 hours.
  • I haven’t seen my friends in what feels like forever.
  • The last time I asked someone to hang out, they said they were busy. 

Evidence Against:

  • She has class on Thursdays. Maybe she’s in class right now.
  • Last weekend, she told me she wanted to hang out with me.
  • My friend hadn’t been mad at me before when I asked her to do something. 
  • We had a really fun time last weekend when I saw her last.
  • I trust my friend and know she cares about me.

After reviewing the evidence, ask yourself how confident you are in your original thought. Has it gone down? This shows that the evidence against the negative automatic thought was greater than the evidence for it. It can be hard to get out of our heads and talk ourselves down sometimes. We find ourselves in spirals of worry, dread, or self-doubt. When we stop and pause to take a moment and review the evidence, we can detach ourselves from our thoughts and remind ourselves what is happening in reality. This can help take us out of our thought spirals and keep moving through our day. Next time you do a thought record, try to add a section on reviewing the evidence and reframing your thoughts. Maybe you’ll surprise yourself with what comes up, and you will feel a slight relief from your mind! Tracing and reframing negative automatic thoughts are great beginnings for those in need. However, it is not substituted for therapy. In cases where you’d like to speak with someone who can provide further CBT resources for support, reaching out to a therapist can be an excellent first step.

While our physical offices are located in South Loop and Lakeview neighborhoods in Chicago, Illinois for in-person sessions, we also welcome and serve clients for online therapy from anywhere in Illinois and Washington, D.C. Clients from the Chicagoland area may choose in-office or online therapy and usually commute from surrounding areas such as River North, West Loop, Gold Coast, Old Town, Lincoln Park, Lake View, Rogers Park, Logan Square, Pilsen, Bridgeport, Little Village, Bronzeville, South Shore, Hyde Park, Back of the Yards, Wicker Park, Bucktown and many more.  

This page is also part of the Roamers Therapy Glossary; a collection of mental-health related definitions that are written by our therapists.

While our offices are currently located at the South Loop neighborhood of Downtown Chicago, Illinois, we also welcome and serve clients for online therapy from anywhere in Illinois and Washington, D.C. Clients from the Chicagoland area may choose in-office or online therapy and usually commute from surrounding areas such as River North, West Loop, Gold Coast, Old Town, Lincoln Park, Lake View, Rogers Park, Logan Square, Pilsen, Bridgeport, Little Village, Bronzeville, South Shore, Hyde Park, Back of the Yards, Wicker Park, Bucktown and many more. You can visit our contact page to access detailed information on our office location.