Exterminating ANTS

Recently, I've been focusing on Automatic Negative Thoughts (ANTs) with my clients. Automatic negative thoughts are related to our inner critic and have evolved as one of the protective mechanisms of our brains. Left unrecognized and unchecked, ANTs can lead to anxiety and depression. Our negative past experiences occupy a substantially larger amount of real estate in our brains than our past positive experiences. This is because, evolutionarily, negative experiences had a bigger impact on our survival. Unfortunately, despite the fact that in modern times, we face far less life and death scenarios, our brains are still wired to react quickly and intensely to perceived threats or negative situations and to remember which situations could harm us in the future.

This is where Automatic Negative Thoughts enter the scene. ANTs are "involuntary, negative beliefs that occur habitually in response to specific situations". While we cannot control or completely prevent these thoughts, we can learn to recognize them for what they are and reframe them. The ability to recognize and reframe ANTs can prevent them from having a negative impact on mental health. There are several types of Automatic negative thoughts, including catastrophizing, mind-reading, all-or-none thinking, the should haves/could haves, etc. It is important for people to be able to o recognize which thought patterns they tend to fall into so they can start to reframe those thoughts when they occur. Once a client recognizes that a particular thought is falling into one for their negative thinking traps, she can start questioning it. I typically recommend that my clients ask themselves whether there is any evidence that the thought is true? Is there evidence that this thought is not true? Another tool I'll teach my clients is to think about what they would tell a good friend who was having a similar thought? Lastly, I'll have my clients put try to put some of these thoughts into perspective by asking themselves what is the worst possible outcome if the thought was true? How would they cope? What is the absolute best possible outcome of the situation and how would that feel? Now, what is the MOST LIKELY outcome? Our ANTs are rooted in our limbic system, so it is imperative that when these thoughts arise, that we take a moment to engage our rational frontal cortex and reframe those thoughts.

In conclusion, anxiety and negative thoughts served an important purpose in the past when our survival was in jeopardy on a regular basis and some of these negative thoughts and worries continue to be helpful when they occur infrequently and with low intensity. For example, a little annoyance from our inner critic about forgetting our homework may help us remember it next time. However, jumping to the automatic negative thought of "I'm such an idiot. I never remember anything!" is not helpful and having these types of thoughts regularly can lead to poor self-esteem, low motivation, depression and generalized anxiety.