Unhelpful Thinking and Rumination

 Unhelpful Types of Thinking

            Projections (mind reading) – E.g., “They think I’m a pushover.” Ask yourself, “Are there any other possibilities?”

            Exaggeration (catastrophizing) – E.g., “I’ll never get to work at this rate. This bottleneck is awful.” Asked yourself, what is the realistic probability that I will never get to work? How serious would it be if I arrive ten minutes late for work? Would it help to call you supervisor and let her know you’re on your way but stuck in a traffic jam?

             Imperatives (unrealistic expectations) – E.g., ‘I must get to work as fast as I can.” “I can’t let him think he can get away with edging me out.” Ask yourself, is it realistic to expect all the drivers on the road to be courteous?

             Negative Attributions – E.g., “They are deliberately trying to cut me off.” Ask yourself, are there any other reasons this person cut me off (they are having a bad day. They are going to or have come from an emergency.)

             Punitive Wishes – E.g., “I will show him how stupid he is by cutting in front of him” Having revengeful thoughts is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die. Is it possible that you could end up doing something you would later regret?

             Overgeneralization – E.g., Thoughts with “always” or “never.” When you think about it how many situations are “always” or “never?”

             Absolutistic or Dichotomous Thinking (Black and White Thinking) – “I must find my ‘one and only’ true love or I will always be miserable.” In this case it is helpful to scale the situation. E.g., when evaluating a stressor, scale it by giving it a number between 1 and 100. 100 would be the most stressful experience you have ever experienced in your life such as the death of a parent or spouse.

             Selective Abstraction – E.g., Basing conclusions on one source of information. “I’m not a reader. Mable reads five books for every book I read. I only read 23 books last year.”

             Personalization – E.g., Making everything about you. “That speaker talked about sin. How does she know about me?” What is the evidence that the speaker has insight into your personal life and behavior?

         Premature Closure – E.g., making a decision too early in a process. Counteract this tendency by writing down your immediate conclusion and then postpone action until you have an opportunity to review the basis (evidence) for you conclusion.

A Process for Dealing with Unhelpful Thinking and Rumination

            1. Notice the thought and the emotion. Many thoughts are automatic but unhelpful and require a focused approach using the methods suggested below.

            2. Decide:

                        Examine the evidence - is the concrete evidence for or against?

                        Use reattribution – Is there another way to think about this?

                        Use decentering – Is this really about me?

            3. Redirect:

                        Social interaction – activity not conversation

                        Be of service to someone with a need

                        Individual activity that involves some concentration

                        Get out into nature and sunlight

            4. Practice:

                        Mindfulness

                        Deep muscle relaxation

                        Meditation

                        Yoga or Tai Chi 

References

            Burns David A. (2020) Feeling Great, PESI Publishing

            Winston, Sall M. and Self, Marin N. (2017) Overcoming Unwanted Intrusive Thoughts, A CBT Guide to Getting Over Frightening, Obsessive or Disturbing Thoughts. New Harbinger Publications. (Paperback, 2019)