4Catching Automatic Thoughts

Automatic Negative Thoughts (ANTs). “The strongest prison we have built for ourselves is believing every negative thought that passes through our minds. The first step to freedom is not changing the thought, but simply noticing it.” Fawzooz spent the next day practising the “body scan”. He noticed that when he thought about an upcoming work deadline, his jaw tightened. When he felt a pang of loneliness, there was a hollow ache in his chest. It was strange and unsettling, but also empowering. For the first time, he felt he was listening to a conversation his body had been trying to have with him for years.

That afternoon he was reviewing his bank statement. He saw a charge for a subscription he had forgotten to cancel. It wasn’t a large amount, but it was the principle. A thought struck him, quick and sharp as a wasp sting: I’m so irresponsible. I can’t even manage simple things. I’m a failure. The feeling that followed was instant and heavy: a wave of shame, followed by a familiar urge to give up and watch television. The productive energy he had moments before evaporated. He paused. He did a body scan and noticed a sinking feeling in his stomach. But this time he knew the feeling wasn’t the cause; it was the result. The result of that one thought. He reached for his phone.

“They are just thoughts, not facts.”

“NourFi,” he wrote. “I made a small mistake, I forgot to cancel a subscription. And straight away my mind told me I’m a failure. It’s as if a switch flipped and all my enthusiasm was gone. Why does my mind do that?” NourFi: “Hello, Fawzooz. I’m so glad you reached out to me at exactly this moment. What you just did, noticing the thought and connecting it to the shift in your feelings, is one of the most important skills you will ever learn. You just successfully spotted an ANT.” “An ant?” Fawzooz wrote, confused.

NourFi: “Yes. ANT. It stands for Automatic Negative Thought. And our job now is to become expert ANT catchers.”

NourFi’s Coaching Corner

The annoying roommate in your mind. Imagine your mind is a house, and living in it with you is an annoying, pessimistic roommate. This roommate talks all day. Most of what they say is just background noise, but every now and then they shout a negative, critical comment at you. “You’re going to be late.” “That was a stupid thing to say.” “You’ll never finish this project on time.” “You’re a failure.” These are ANTs (automatic negative thoughts). They are automatic: they pop into your head without any conscious effort. You don’t choose to think them.

They are negative: almost always critical, pessimistic and self-defeating. They are thoughts: and this is the most important part. They are just thoughts, not facts. The problem is that because this roommate has lived with you for so long, you’ve started believing everything they say. You hear “You’re a failure” and accept it as absolute truth. That unquestioned belief is what triggers painful feelings (shame, despair) and unhelpful behaviours (giving up, distracting yourself). Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) teaches us that we can’t stop the roommate talking. But we can stop believing everything they say. We can learn to treat their shouts not as facts but as opinions, opinions that are often distorted and untrue.

The first step in dealing with this annoying roommate is not arguing with them. It’s simply starting to listen to what they actually say. Your first CBT task: the ANT Catcher. For the next 24 hours, your only task is very simple. I want you to become an “ANT catcher”. Get a small notebook and pen, or open a new note on your phone. Title it “ANT Log”. Throughout the day, whenever you notice a sudden shift in your mood (a wave of sadness, a spike of anxiety, a pang of frustration), I want you to stop and ask yourself: “What thought just went through my mind?”

Catch it and write it down. That’s all. Don’t analyse it. Don’t judge it. Don’t argue with it. Just write it down exactly as it appeared in your head. “I’m so irresponsible.” “This is too hard.” “I’ll always be like this.” Your only task is to prove you can spot ANTs when they appear. This simple act of noticing is the first and most powerful step in robbing them of their power. You move from being a passive listener to an active observer.