Negative thoughts are natural. They are good. But if left uncontrolled it may turn to be harmful. How can we find them out and modify? Modifying the negative thoughts are essential to living happily. It can help you improve your natural immunity and overall health. ANTs are an acronym for Automatic Negative Thoughts and the 9 best ANTs and its management methods are discussed here. It can cause stress and other mental disorders.

1. Automatic
Negative
Thoughts
(ANTs)
BABU APPAT

2. Automatic
Negative
Thoughts can
become a
debilitating
habit.

3. They can not only stress you out, they can
also have a negative impact on your overall
life and health.

4. We can control
unwanted
negative
thoughts. Can
we?

5. Come; let's
learn to
manage our
negative
thoughts!

6. In this session
we will learn:
Why we have automatic negative
thoughts (ANTs) and why they are
harmful
• 9 automatic negative
thought patterns to watch out for
• How to challenge automatic
negative thoughts
• Specific steps to take to
break the negativity habit

7. Automatic Negative
Thoughts (ANTs):
How to Break the
Habit?
In today's world, it's not hard for
your thinking to go negative.
However, if this is your default
(automatic) state, your negative
thinking can become your reality.
Professional counseling can help
you stop this downward spiral.

8. Professiona
l Online
counseling
can help
you stop
this
downward
spiral.
• Same quality and effectiveness as in-
counseling, plus ...
• More private, and ...
• More affordable, and ...
• More convenient, and ...
• Non-contact method- effective social
distancing

9. Automatic negative
thoughts can become
overwhelmingly
stressful, but can be
overcome with simple
techniques.

10. The average human
brain does a lot of
thinking, up to 70,000
thoughts per day.
And the majority of
these thoughts are
negative and seem to
pop up out of the blue.
And these are called
(ANTs) automatic
negative thoughts.

11. Buddha wisely said
that nothing can harm you as
much as your own thoughts,
and, for most of us, this
certainly is true.

12. Having negative thoughts is
perfectly normal.
So you can stop beating
yourself up for having them;
they exist to keep you safe.

13. Your ancestors survived
by constantly being on
the lookout for threats,
fixing problems as they
arose, and then learning
from their mistakes.

14. Imagination is one of
the greatest capacities of the
human mind and you use it to
imagine potential threats
and problems.
This enables you to solve them
before you get into trouble

15. But this capability to imagine
threats can also work against
you by turning your mind into
a “random negative thought
generator.”

16. The negative effects of automatic
negative thinking include:
Depleting beneficial brain chemicals like the feel-good neurotransmitters serotonin and dopamine
• Slowing the production of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a protein required for
new brain cell formation
• Shrinking the size of your brain but enlarging your brain’s fear center, the amygdala
• Increasing your risk of psychiatric and neurodegenerative diseases
• Accelerating the brain’s aging process

17. When stress becomes
chronic, it actually
changes your brain
down to the level of your
DNA.
It might feel like your negative
thoughts are keeping you safe, but
what they are really doing is
holding you captive in a vicious
cycle of stress and resulting misery.

18. You’ve heard of ants
spoiling a picnic, but
there are different
kinds of “ants” that
could be spoiling
your life.

19. Dr. Aaron Beck is
considered one of
the founders of
cognitive therapy
In the 1960s, Beck was working with
patients with depression and noticed that
streams of negative thoughts
spontaneously popped up.
He became convinced that automatic
negative thoughts like “I never do anything
right” or “I’m such a loser” affected overall
happiness and mental health and even
caused his patients’ depression.
He noticed that their negative, distorted
thinking fell into three categories:
negative ideas about themselves, the
world, and the future. He called these
thoughts automatic negative thoughts
and gave them the memorable acronym
of ANTs.

20. The Present
Century
Dr. Daniel Amen is a psychiatrist
and bestselling author, who has
been called the most popular
psychiatrist in America.
He is frequently, but erroneously,
given credit for coining the moniker
ANTs. While he didn’t create the
term, he certainly did popularize it
in his bestselling book Change Your
Brain, Change Your Body.

21. 9 Automatic Negative
Thought Patterns to
Watch Out For
Cognitive distortions are sneaky ways your mind convinces you
of something that isn’t really true.
Your brain fools you into thinking that your negative thoughts
are accurate and logical, but, in reality, they serve only to
reinforce negative thinking and emotions. Psychologists
recognize an abundance of cognitive distortions.

22. There are actually
many of them
More than 200 perhaps.
Most people would be hard-pressed to learn all of them, but
by elaborating on Dr. Beck’s ANTs acronym, Dr. Amen makes
them easy to remember.

23. Dr. Daniel Amen
labels nine of the
most common
automatic negative
thought patterns as
different “species” of
ANTs and calls the
most destructive
ones “red ANTs.”

24. He warns that a few
ANTs won’t do
much harm, but
warns against “ANT
infestations” —
when thousands of
negative thoughts
start to dominate
your thinking.

25. He claims
that learning
how to kill ANTs
by developing an
internal ANT-
eater can be as
effective as
antidepressant
medications to
treat anxiety
and depression

26. Here are the nine ANTs.

27. ANT #1: Black
and White
Thinking
Using words like “always,” “never,”
and “every” is the hallmark of this
ANT. Catch yourself the next time
you say to yourself “I’m never going
to lose weight,” “You’re always late,”
or “Everyone understands this but
me.”

28. ANT #2: Focusing
on the Negative
This ANT involves dismissing the good and focusing
on the negative.
As someone once said, “We can complain because
rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorns
have roses.” The source of this quote is in doubt,
but the wisdom contained within is not

29. ANT #3:
Fortune
Telling
We’re not talking about psychics who try to
tell your future with a crystal ball.
(Although they may be more accurate than
those prone to this common ANT.)
We’re talking about those fortune-telling
folks who “know” that the worst possible
outcome in any situation will occur. If your
knee-jerk reaction to any new idea is
“that’s not going to work,” you may suffer
from this common cognitive distortion.

30. ANT #4: Mind
Reading
Another activity best left to the
psychics is mind reading.
With this ANT, you think
you know what another person is
thinking. You wrongly assume their
thoughts are about you, of course,
and that they aren’t good.

31. ANT #5:
Thinking With
Your Feelings
This occurs when you have negative
feelings without questioning them.
You may be in a situation where
you feel stupid, for example. It’s
easy for that feeling to morph into
the thought that you are stupid,
though this is not true.

32. ANT #6: Being
Ruled by
“Shoulds”
Dr. Amen calls using words
like should or have to “guilt
beatings.”
Ouch. Guilting yourself (or others)
into changing is rarely productive.

33. ANT #7:
Labeling
Eliminate negative labels like fat, lazy,
stupid, or loser from your vocabulary.
Don’t label others and don’t label
yourself either. Labels can become a
self-fulfilling prophecy for you and can
damage your relationships with
others.

34. ANT #8:
Taking Things
Personally
When others don’t treat you as well
as you’d like, don’t take it personally.
This might be hard to hear if you are
prone to this ANT, but the world doesn’t
revolve around you.
People are not thinking about you as
much as you imagine! If a co-worker is
grumpy, it’s probably because he had a
bad night, is overwhelmed with work,
or is worrying about something that has
nothing to do with you.

35. ANT
#9: Blame
This last one is rather
straightforward.
Don’t blame others for
your own problems.
Realize that you are
responsible for your
own actions, thoughts,
and attitudes.

36. How to
Challenge
Automatic
Negative
Thoughts
“DON’T BELIEVE
EVERYTHING YOU
THINK.”

37. So now that you
know the most
common
automatic
negative thought
patterns, practice
recognizing them
when they occur.

38. Here are some ways to
challenge their validity.

39. Ask Yourself
Questions
When you recognize an automatic negative
thought, ask yourself questions like these:
Is this thought true?
Does having this thought serve me?
Is there another explanation or another way of
looking at things?
What advice would I give to a friend who had
this thought?
You almost certainly will see that there are
other ways to view the situation.

40. Write Down Your
Automatic Negative
Thoughts
Writing down your automatic negative thoughts can help
you see patterns.
You may find that certain situations or people trigger
them.
You may also discover that many of your automatic
negative thoughts are variations on just a few basic
themes. You will feel less overwhelmed if you realize you
only have a handful of repeating automatic negative
thoughts to master.

41. Personify Your
Inner Critic
A slightly off-beat technique is to personify your “inner
critic.”
This can be as simple as thinking of it as a devil on your
shoulder, a Gollum-like creature, or your “evil twin.”
This helps keep you from “owning” these thoughts.
Imagine that these thoughts come from this source
outside yourself, one that does not have your best
interests at heart.
So consider this voice in your head to be a really bad friend
and don’t pay attention to what it says. And always
remember that your inner critic can’t make you feel bad
without your permission.

42. View Your Negative Thoughts
as Boring
If you had a friend who came to you with the same complaint or story dozens of times a day, do you think
you’d continue to pay attention to her?
No way!
You’d get bored with her stories and learn to tune her out pretty fast.
So why not do the same with your own thoughts?
The next time you have an automatic negative thought, just notice it.
Say to yourself “Ah, there’s that same old thought again.”
Roll your eyes, inwardly sigh, and say to yourself “BOR-R-R-ING.” Recognize that not every thought you
have is important and simply let it go.

43. Turn Your ANTs
into PETs
Another way to conquer ANTs is to turn them
into PETs, positive empowering thoughts.
You do this by reframing your negative thoughts
into something more uplifting and, ironically,
probably more realistic. You may find using an
automatic negative thoughts worksheet like the
one below helpful to record both your automatic
thoughts and the new thoughts you will use to
replace them.

44. Record both your automatic thoughts and the new
thoughts you will use to replace them
TRIGGER AUTOMATIC THOUGHT NEW THOUGHT
Example: I made a mistake at work I am going to be fired for t, probably. I
always mess up. That's it. I am no good at
at this job.
I messed up; but mistakes happen. I am
going to work through this, like I always
do.

45. Reframe “Should” and
“Shouldn’t” Statements
Particularly useful kinds of PETs are those for
reframing “should” and “shouldn’t”
statements. The next time catch yourself saying
“I should” or “I shouldn’t,” swap out that
statement for a more positive phrase that
focuses on benefits or its alignment with your
values instead.

46. For example, the next time you’re
tempted to say “I should exercise” —
which implies that you don’t exercise or
don’t really want to — tell yourself a PET
like this instead:
I look forward to exercising.
It’s important to me that I exercise.
I love the way I feel after I exercise.
These positive thoughts may not ring true initially, but
eventually they will feel true as exercise becomes a new
habit. This reframing works for things you “should not” do
as well.

47. For example, if you smoke
but want to quit, instead of
telling yourself “I shouldn’t
smoke,” transform this
statement into one of these
PETs:
I’m not the kind of person who
smokes.
I choose not to smoke.
I feel great when I don’t smoke.
I’m proud of myself when I don’t
smoke.

48. Other
Ways to
Tame
Negative
Thoughts
Challenging your thoughts is the most
important way to control automatic negative
thoughts, but there are some techniques you
can use to support this process
Remember
Meditation excels at helping you quiet your
mind and master negative thought patterns.
While practicing meditation, one learns to
notice and dismiss thoughts, letting them pass
by with no emotional investment.
You can get similar results with mind-body
exercises like yoga, tai chi, or qi gong. And as
long as you perform it mindfully, you can
turn any activity into a meditation.
Meditate
It’s hard to feel overwhelmed by bad thoughts
while feeling grateful.
Being grateful reduces negativity by creating a
boost of feel-good brain chemicals like
serotonin, dopamine, and oxytocin. According
to gratitude expert Dr. Robert Emmons,
gratitude promotes mental and emotional
resilience while minimizing
emotions.
Practice Gratitude

49. When to Consider
Professional Help
for Negative
Thoughts
We realize that telling someone
in the throes of anxiety or
depression to “think positive ” is
no more helpful than tossing a
drowning man a bicycle.
If you feel overwhelmed by
negative thoughts or feel that
they are significantly impacting
your life, you may want to
consider professional help.

50. Thank you
babuappat@gmail.com