How to Think in a New Way

How you feel about a situation is based on what you think. Some people are told that they overreact in certain situations or that they do not seem to react to anything. Some people struggle with low self-esteem or depression. The difference is in their thinking. How and what people think is based on a number of factors including past experiences, how their parents thought and personality traits. Some thinking is dysfunctional and affects personal, work or social functioning. With time and effort it is possible to change thinking patterns.

Instructions

• 1

  Write your dysfunctional thoughts. Think of times that you overreacted, became angry, worried too much or perhaps did not react at all. If you have difficulty identifying dysfunctional thoughts, think of times when others told you your thinking was incorrect. Make a list of the thoughts you had during these times.

• 2

  Compare the thoughts and identify patterns. Typically dysfunctional thinking occurs in specific patterns or types of thoughts. Dysfunctional thoughts are those that are excessively negative, apply an all-or-nothing principle, over generalize information or place too much emphasis on the self, as in "It's all my fault."

• 3

  Write functional thoughts. Make another list, and for each dysfunctional thought you have written, list more effective and functional thoughts. Consider if the situation is as bad as you have perceived it. Where you have written "It's all my fault" on the dysfunctional thinking list, write "I am not responsible for someone else's actions" on the functional thinking list.

• 4

  Replace dysfunctional thinking with functional thinking. Observe your thinking patterns in your daily life. Identify the dysfunctional thoughts that you want to change as they occur. Immediately replace the thought with a more appropriate one. Continue practicing this until the functional thoughts occur more naturally.