Because they are habitual and routine, automatic thoughts are also known as routinized thoughts.Īlthough they are out of your conscious control, these thoughts have a tremendous impact on your conscious life. In other words, they become part of your daily routine. Thoughts that once had to be consciously considered now appear as a matter of habit. As you move from childhood to adulthood, your repertoire of automatic thoughts grows. Instead, they occur instantaneously and on their own. These thoughts do not require us to directly oversee them. To avoid this possibility, all people rely heavily on automatic thoughts. It would be difficult or impossible to function while trying to micromanage such a huge task. Why? If you had to think your way through every aspect of daily life, the information overload would be staggering. This makes sense from a survival standpoint. However, much of our thinking occurs outside of conscious control. We are conscious of some of this thinking, and can direct it to at least some degree. A Guide to Automatic ThoughtsĮvery day, the average person experiences an untold number of thoughts. Fortunately, a form of psychotherapy called cognitive-behavioral therapy, or CBT, can help you overcome such thoughts. They can also help sustain those illnesses over time. Negative automatic thoughts can help lay the groundwork for some of the world’s most common mental illnesses.

However, they may also have a negative impact on your mental health. Instead, they operate at a more immediate, unconscious level.Īutomatic thoughts may be positive and act as a support for sound mental health. These thoughts do not fall under your conscious control. However, everyone also experiences automatic thoughts. This means that they can choose what they think about and how they think about it. The vast majority of people have significant control over their day-to-day thought processes. The Impact of Negative, Habitual Thinking

Automatic negative thoughts