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Automatic negative thoughts list5/2/2024 If you go back to the list of common negative thoughts the child has, this is a great place to write down simple, positive thoughts they can say instead. ![]() Their positive self-talk could be “I am a good student and I do well when I prepare.” They are worried that they will forget what to say. For example, say they have negative thoughts before presenting a book report to their class. Help a child come up with a few key phrases they can repeat as reminders. We can help our child go through these questions to figure out their own thoughts and feelings: New Feeling: Worried about Emma’s feelings. New Thought: “Maybe Emma is upset about something that has nothing to do with me” New Feeling: Disappointed that she hasn’t spoken to me, but I understand. New Thought: “Emma is probably busy with school or something” ![]() New Feeling: Concerned that my friend may be upset, but I am not feeling sad like I did before New Thought: “Emma could be upset with me, but maybe not. Let’s look at three different thoughts from our example and see how it changes things. Thoughts: I thought “Emma hasn’t talked to me much this week. What Happened: Emma, my best friend, did not talk to me like she normally does. When creating a new thought, it can help to see the situation in a different manner. The things we think are not automatically true. Instead when you ask your child these sorts of questions you help them to come up with other ways of thinking that may be helpful.Īnother way to assess and change thinking is to evaluate an event and the associated thoughts and feelings, to see if changing perspective on the event will help. Have them ask themselves, “What am I saying to myself about this? How true is it? Is it helpful to think this way? Where will it get me? What else can I think instead? It is important not to contradict your child. Once we separate negative thoughts from the child, they can do some reality checking of their thoughts. You can talk back to Mean Brain.” Your child can then ask themselves if that thought is true or false. That sounds like a Worried Weatherman thought. This lets you say, “Sounds like Stormin’ Stu is making you feel angry and left out. Your child can come up with labels for these patterns of thinking to be able to externalize, observe, and choose to reject the negative thoughts. We can help a child separate negative thoughts from themselves, or to externalize the thoughts, by labeling them or giving them a name, such as the Inner Critic, Mean Brain, Stormin’ Stu, or the Worried Weatherman. From this list they can come up with ways to change these types of thoughts. But there are many others that I can do.”Ĭhildren can create a short list of the types of negative thoughts, or ANTS, they often have. For example, “I stink at math” could become “some parts of math are hard for me. Then we can help them evaluate these thoughts and consider how they might reshape them into something more accurate and helpful. We can help them identify their ANTS and then add some new, positive and more balanced thoughts to take hold of instead. This may be where a child’s mind tends to go first. These are sometimes called automatic negative thoughts, or ANTS. ![]() Trauma, depression and anxiety can cause patterns of negative thinking to take hold in children. They are not necessarily good or bad, but we can choose which ones are helpful and good to focus on, and which thoughts we can let float by without paying more attention to them. One way to picture this is to think of thoughts like leaves floating along a river. Then we can figure things out.” Observing ThoughtsĪnother skill is to teach about observing thoughts. Let’s take a few deep breaths and try to relax for a few moments. For example, we can say, “Your mind is full right now. Teaching a way to stop and relax as a first step is important. When children are emotionally upset, their thoughts can be unclear, confusing or overwhelming. It must have been upsetting that…” “You seem frustrated about that.” “That sounds annoying.” “That must have been hard to handle.” “It sounds like you’re really upset.” “You look really sad. When a child is negative, we can help by recognizing the feelings. It is always important to first empathize and help a child understand their feelings. Practicing new ways of thinking creates new pathways in the brain, and new thinking takes hold to become more automatic. The concept of thoughts can be abstract for children, so we can make the concepts concrete and give them opportunities to practice and break down the skills they need to observe, understand and change unhelpful thinking. By Wendy Witham, LMFT Talking with our KidsĪlong with nurturing attachment and validating emotions, talking with our kids about their thoughts can help them develop self-awareness and connect thoughts, feelings and behaviors, to manage them in a more regulated way.
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