Automatic Negative Thoughts (ANTs): How to Break the Habit

Automatic negative thoughts can become overwhelmingly stressful, but can be overcome with simple techniques to challenge and control them.

The average human brain does a lot of thinking, up to 70,000 thoughts per day. 

The majority of these thoughts are negative and seem to pop up out of the blue. 

Psychologists have labeled these automatic negative thoughts.

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

Let’s examine why human thoughts are so predominantly negative and, more importantly, how to control all those unwanted negative thoughts.

Why We Have Automatic Negative Thoughts

There are two main reasons why we have automatic negative thoughts.

First, having negative thoughts is perfectly normal. 

So you can stop beating yourself up for having them; they exist to keep you safe.

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

Imagination is one of the best qualities of the human mind and we use it to imagine potential threats and problems.

This enables us to solve problems before we get into trouble.

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

“ Cognitive biases and distortions are sneaky ways in which your mind convinces you of something that isn’t really true.

The second reason you may have so many automatic negative thoughts is that your negative thinking has become a habit.

This is evidenced by the fact that 90% of all thoughts are repetitive; you’ll have almost the same thoughts today that you had yesterday.

If you do something often enough, including thinking negative thoughts, you create a neural pathway.

The more you do it, the stronger the connections in the brain become.

This is how habits get formed and why it’s so hard to break a bad habit.

How Automatic Negative Thoughts Are Harmful

While automatic negative thoughts are normal and exist to keep us safe, that doesn’t mean that they can’t harm us. 

Negative thoughts cause chronic stress which, in many real ways, changes the brain. 

Every negative thought we have alters our brain chemistry, creating a cascade of negative effects. 

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 the brain but enlarging the amygdala, the brain’s fear center 
• Increasing the risk of psychiatric and neurodegenerative diseases
• Accelerating the brain’s aging process

When stress becomes chronic, it actually changes the brain down to the level of its DNA. 

It might feel like your negative thoughts are keeping you safe, but what they are really doing is holding you captive in a destructive cycle of stress and resulting misery.

Why Automatic Negative Thoughts Are Called ANTS

You’ve heard of ants spoiling a picnic, but these “ants” could be spoiling your life.

Aaron Beck, MD, is considered the founder 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 ANTs. 

Fast forward to this century.

Daniel Amen, MD, is a psychiatrist and bestselling author, who has been called the most popular psychiatrist in America.

While he didn’t coin the term ANTs, he certainly did popularize it in his bestselling book Change Your Brain, Change Your Body.

9 Automatic Negative Thought Patterns to Watch Out For

Cognitive biases and distortions are sneaky ways in which 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 biases. 

The number of biases changes depending on the referenced source, but I’ve seen lists with as many as 200. 

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.

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

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.

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

He’s even written a children’s book about automatic negative thoughts called Captain Snout and the Super Power Questions: Don’t Let the ANTs Steal Your Happiness.

Captain Snout, it should come as no surprise, is an anteater. 😉

Here are the nine ANTS.

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.”

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. 

ANT #3: Fortune Telling

We’re not talking about psychics who try to tell the future with a crystal ball.

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 bias.

ANT #4: Mind Reading

Another activity best left to 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.

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.

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.

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.

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 friend, family member, or co-worker is grumpy, it’s probably because they had a bad night, are overwhelmed with work, or are worrying about something that has nothing to do with you.

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.

How to Challenge Automatic Negative Thoughts

“Don’t believe everything you think.”
— Seen on a bumper sticker

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

Next, you want to learn how to rob them of their power by refusing to accept that they are true.

Here are some ways to challenge their validity.

1. 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.

2. Write Down Your Automatic Negative Thoughts

Writing down your automatic negative thoughts can help you find 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 that you have only a handful of repeating automatic negative thoughts to master.

3. 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.

If you had an acquaintance, friend, or loved one that spoke as harshly to you as you do to yourself, you would (hopefully!) drop them in a minute.

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.

In my family, we joke that our gut microbiome is the source of negative thinking. 

It’s not as far-fetched as it sounds.

Scientists are learning more every day about the amazing two-way communication channel between our intestines and our brain.

4. 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 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 interesting, important, or true, and simply let it go.

5. 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 thought as something more uplifting and, ironically, probably more realistic.

You may find using an automatic negative thoughts worksheet like the one below to be helpful to record both your automatic thoughts and the new thoughts you will use to replace them.

6. Reframe “Should” and “Shouldn’t” Statements

Particularly useful kinds of PETs are those for reframing “should” and “shouldn’t” statements.

The next time you find 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.

For example, the next time you’re tempted to say “I should” exercise — which implies that you currently don’t exercise or really don’t 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.

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.

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.

Meditate

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.

Meditation isn’t the only technique for quieting your mind.

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.

Practice Gratitude

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 Robert Emmons, PhD, who is considered the world’s leading gratitude expert, gratitude promotes mental and emotional resilience while minimizing underlying negative emotions. 

When to Consider Professional Help for Negative Thoughts

We realize that telling someone in the throes of anxiety or depression to “think positive thoughts” 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.

A top therapy to consider is cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT).

Unlike some forms of therapy, it doesn’t dwell on your past life experiences but deals directly with helping you recognize and control the negative thoughts you are having in the present.

This kind of talk therapy can be particularly helpful if you have a known mental health disorder.

If you aren’t sure where to get help, you can find a therapist trained in CBT near you in one of these directories of mental health practitioners.

Or you can try online counseling which can make mental health therapy more convenient, affordable, and accessible for almost everyone.

Recommended: Upgrading brain health is key to making your brain work better.

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• Improve your mental clarity and focus.
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