5 Step Process to Change Daily Thought Pattern (CBT)

5 Step Process to Learn to Overcome Automatic Negative Thoughts and Rewire Your Brain to Deal with and Combat Depression.  In order to learn how to deal with depression, one must be able to change their thought patterns. The bad news is that thoughts are automatic, habitual occurrences that can have very negative influences on our physical and emotional bodies. The good news is that we can learn to recognize our automatic thoughts and cultivate them into healthy, productive life altering emotional and physical changes. If applied daily and with much practice, the steps below might be able to help you learn how to cope with and end your depression. You can learn to control your automatic negative thoughts and thus how to deal with your depression.

Step 1:  Become aware that thoughts are real, "breathing" measurable things in our brains that influence every cell in our body.  

Process: A subconscious, automatic thought enters your mind.  Chemicals are sent within your brain to their proper destination making your thought become a real thing that alters and impacts your behaviors and feelings.

Step 2:  Notice how thoughts impact your body.

• Notice how depressing thoughts make you feel.  Your automatic negative thoughts causes chemicals to be released in your brain that make you feel tired, anxious, lethargic, achy etc.

• Notice how an automatic angry thought makes your heart beat much faster, your face turn red, your muscles tense etc.

• Now, notice how positive thoughts impact your body.  When you have a happy thought your brain releases the chemicals necessary for you to feel relaxed and at ease.  Your breathing becomes slower and controlled.  Your body is cool and you feel good.

• Finally, notice how every single automatic thought you have impacts your body in some way.  Every thought you have influences the cells in your body to respond in a certain way.  If you have an anxious thought, your body will feel nervous. If you have habitual negative thoughts, you will feel tired and depressed.

Before you move on to step 3, type in the box below any current or past negative thoughts and corresponding physical sensations.

Step 3: Think of negative thoughts as poison.

We know that thoughts are automatic and extremely influential and powerful.  Remember that thoughts impact every cell in our body. Positive thoughts make us feel good.  Negative thoughts can make us have a stomachache, a headache, tired, physically sick etc.  Scientists firmly believe that sustained, negative thought patterns that are associated with depression can possibly contribute to cells becoming cancerous.

Just as poison negatively impacts everyone who comes into contact with it,  negative thoughts can literally poison our body by negatively impacting and even destroying our cells.

Step 4: Realize and understand that automatic negative thoughts lie.  They are not always right.  Learn to recognize and challenge your thoughts.

Just because the same automatic negative thoughts have crossed your mind for some time, does not mean that they are telling the truth. Learn to recognize and challenge your thoughts.

 Remember that our thoughts our automatic and when it comes to depression, many times they are automatic negative thoughts that contribute greatly to our depression. Click here to look at the vicious depression cycle. 

Step 5: Click on and use the worksheet/chart below to recognize, challenge and change your thought patterns into healthy, productive thought patterns that will ultimately help you learn how to deal with and end depression or any unpleasant feelings or emotions.

Step 5 of the 5 Step Process to Learn to Overcome Automatic Negative Thoughts and Rewire Your Brain to Deal with and Combat Depression