Changing the Way You Think
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It’s very common for people who’ve been through a traumatic event to find their ideas about things change. These changes may relate to how the person sees themselves, other people and the world around them.
Here’s what Michael had to say about his experiences of changing the way he thought:
“I hadn’t really realised until I came to therapy that I was thinking in such a negative way. I was feeling quite anxious and quite depressed. I’d started to think as if the glass was always half empty rather than half full. It turned out that a lot of these feelings were due to the way I was thinking. I learnt to change the way I was thinking and that helped me a great deal. And it does still helps me to try and recognise when my thoughts are ‘faulty’.”
PTSD can lead to a lot of unhelpful thoughts. These thoughts in turn affect how you feel, and how you behave.
With a little effort, you can identify these unhelpful thoughts and train yourself to change the way you think making yourself much happier and less anxious.
People with PTSD often have unhelpful thoughts stemming from their traumatic event. It is important to identify these unhelpful thoughts and consider whether they are backed by evidence. In particular, individuals with PTSD tend to blame themselves or other people for what happened and see the world as a more dangerous place:
1. Self blame
– People often blame themselves for
the traumatic event or their actions at the time of the trauma. This leads to
feelings of guilt. Many people with PTSD think that they are either
responsible for what happened in some way, that they could have prevented it,
or that others would blame them if they knew “the whole story”.
2. Losing trust in others – Often people with PTSD feel unable to trust or rely on other people after a trauma. The individual may feel let down, betrayed or shocked by the behaviour of others. These feelings may seem hard to change.
3. Seeing the
world as a dangerous place – We generally believe that nothing bad can happen
to us. We assume traumatic events happen
to other people. A trauma changes these beliefs. Suddenly the world seems like
a more dangerous place. People with PTSD are constantly on-edge and alert for danger. Nothing
seems as safe as it used to. The person assumes that it’s only a matter of time
before the same thing happens again. These unhelpful thoughts are however
rarely backed by evidence. The world is a no more dangerous place than before.
Changing these negative beliefs can help you re-establish a sense of safety and
feel less vulnerable.
10 types of unhelpful thinking
Thinking unhelpful thoughts is common and not unique to PTSD. Here we list some common types of unhelpful thinking. Ask yourself if you sometimes think in these ways? These unhelpful thoughts might be specific to your trauma or about the world in general.
1. Personalizing - is when
you blame yourself for events
that were out of your control. An example from Michael: “My son
was in the car at the time of the accident. I put his life in danger. I’m a bad
father”.
2. Catastrophizing - is when you turn everything into a catastrophe. You always expect the worst-case scenario.
An example from Chloe: “I can’t go out. I’ll get too anxious. I’ll lose control. I’ll make a complete fool of myself”.
3. Over-Generalization - is when you think something happening once means it will always happen.
An example from Michael: “If I drive again, I’ll have another accident”.
4. Emotional Reasoning - is when you assume everything you feel must be true.
An example from Chloe: “I feel guilty; I must be to blame for what happened”.
5. Labelling - is when you put a negative label on yourself after
something happens. This can affect your self-image and confidence.
An example from Michael: “I should
have prevented the accident. I’m a dangerous driver”.
6. All or Nothing Thinking - is when you think in extremes. This type of thinking can make things seem much worse than they really are.
An example
from Chloe: “Things have been tough recently. I'm always going to feel unhappy. I’m never
going to get my life back”.
7. Jumping to Conclusions – is when you jump to a conclusion rather than think about things sensibly. These conclusions are often negative.
Example: “I heard my wife telling a friend that she
wants things back to normal. She obviously thinks I should just pull myself
together”.
8. Mind reading – is when you decide with little evidence what another person is thinking.
An example from Chloe: “My mum and dad blame me for what happened.
They’ve never said it. But I know”.
9. Negative Bias - is when you focus on negative aspects of a situation or event and don’t think about the positive parts.
An example
from Michael: “Someone at work told me I shouldn’t have been driving on that
particular road in the dark. Everyone else has said that it wasn’t my fault.
But that one comment is the one I focus on”.
10. Should statements – is when you tell yourself that things should have turned out better.
An example from Chloe: “I should
have walked home a different way that day. I shouldn’t have walked through the
park”.
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