The knot theory of thoughts

Domina Petric, MD
The Knot Theory of Thoughts

Spectrum of thoughts
• Human thoughts can be imagined as a
spectrum.
• On the one side of the spectrum are organised
thoughts in healthy individuals and on the
other side is severe thought disorder
characteristic for schizophrenia and other
psychotic disorders.
• Between these two opposite sides of spectrum
are milder impairments of thought quality that
may sometimes occur even in healthy
individuals, and more often in neurotic
individuals.
PowerPlugs Templates for PowerPoint Preview 2
Petric, Domina. (2018). The
Knot Theory of Thoughts.
10.13140/RG.2.2.26297.4720

Spectrum of thoughts
10.13140/RG.2.2.26297.4720
Organised
thoughts
• Healthy
individuals,
balance
between
negative
and positive
thoughts.
Thought
knots
• Healthy
individuals,
neurotic
individuals,
knots may
lead to
depression
and anxiety.
Thought
disorder
• Psychotic
patients,
disorganised
thoughts

Negative emotions
Sadness (depression, despair, hopelessness)
Anxiety (fear, worry, concern, nervous, panic)
Anger (irritation, frustration, annoyance, rage)
Guilt
Shame/embarrassment
10.13140/RG.2.2.26297.4720

Negative thoughts
• Negative emotions provoke negative
thoughts.
• Sadness is associated with self-critical
thoughts, pessimistic thoughts and
thoughts of loss or failure.
• Anxiety is associated with thoughts of
something bad that could happen in
the future, thoughts of threath, risk or
danger and ˝what-if˝ thoughts.
10.13140/RG.2.2.26297.4720

Negative thoughts
• Anger is associated with ˝should-thoughts˝,
thoughts of having been harmed or heaving
been treated unfairly and thoughts of rules
being broken.
• Guilt is associated with thoughts of having
harmed someone, thoughts of having done
something that goes against your own moral
and sense of responsibility for a negative
outcome.
• Shame/embarrassment is associated with
thought that other will judge flaws or mistakes
in a negative way.
10.13140/RG.2.2.26297.4720

Negative thoughts
Negative thoughts have
their function, but
these thoughts should
be always balanced
with positive thoughts.
10.13140/RG.2.2.26297.4720

Example of healthy process
You offended
someone
Feeling of guilt
(healthy negative
emotion)
Healthy negative
thought: this is
against my moral
Positive decision:
I want to
apologize
Apologizing
Positive thought:
I will forgive
myself
Negative thought
is balanced with
positive thought
Positive emotion:
I am happy for
apologizing
Negative emotion
is balanced with
positive emotion
10.13140/RG.2.2.26297.4720

Thought knot
• When there is no positive thought following
the negative thought, the new negative
thought goes after and, thus, making a knot
of negative thoughts.
• Knots of negative thoughts associated with
anxiety can transform healthy anxiety into
the pathological anxiety.
• The same, negative thoughts associated
with sadness may transform healthy sadness
into the depression.
10.13140/RG.2.2.26297.4720

Example of thought knot
You
offended
someone
Feeling
of guilt
Negative
thought
No
decision,
no positive
thought
Feeling
angry on
yourself
New negative
thought:
maybe this
person
deserves to
be offended
10.13140/RG.2.2.26297.4720

Thought knot
• People that score high on neuroticism are
susceptible for creating negative thought knots.
• People who suffered psychological, emotional
and/or physical injury and trauma are also
prone for having these knots.
• Every trauma is a possible negative thought
knot around which many negative thoughts
are accumulated in a cluster of thought knots.
• These thought knots prevent traumatized
patients to recover from the trauma.
10.13140/RG.2.2.26297.4720

Example of
thought knot
10.13140/RG.2.2.26297.4720
Trauma
Negative emotion
Negative thought
No decision, no positive thought
New negative thought
New negative emotion
Cluster of negative
thought knots
Cluster of negative
emotions
Forgetting about the primary trauma.
Anxiety, depression

Thought knot
Negative thoughts have tendency to
accumulate more than positive thoughts.
That is why is important to try hard and find
positive thought to create a balance.
Balance between positive and negative
thoughts helps a person to better organize
his/her thoughts.
10.13140/RG.2.2.26297.4720

Conclusion
• In an everyday life we often forget about
importance of having healthy thoughts.
• Stress, everyday obligations, deadlines
and living too fast makes us more
oriented to the outside world.
• Health of reflection and emotions is often
forgotten because it becomes important
only how do we look or how much
money do we earn.
10.13140/RG.2.2.26297.4720

Conclusion
• Stress and any physical, psychological or
emotional trauma, including unnoticed
emotional and psychological microtraumas
that may happen on the daily basis during
the interaction with other people, may
cause a knot of negative thoughts.
• Further accumulation of negative thought
knots may lead to anxiety and depression.
• Disentangling of negative thought knots is
important for maintaining the health of
reflection and emotions.
10.13140/RG.2.2.26297.4720

The knot theory of thoughts

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (20)

Similar to The knot theory of thoughts

Similar to The knot theory of thoughts (20)

More from Domina Petric

More from Domina Petric (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

The knot theory of thoughts