How to Identify Harmful Thinking Patterns

Becoming aware of thinking errors is step one to improving your mental health

If you want to improve your mental health or struggle with any kind of mental health issues, awareness is always the first step. You may, of course, already be aware of the fact that there is some mental health aspect that could use love — but are you aware of what’s causing and maintaining it?

Whether you’re overthinking a lot, need some extra confidence, or are stuck living in the past — you need to observe your thoughts, feelings, and behavior as they unfold to connect the cause to the problem. This will provide the foundation to build on.

Sometimes, we get overwhelmed by our own thoughts. Our inside world isn’t a simple thing — as beautiful as that can be, it doesn’t make it any easier when we’re struggling. That’s exactly why we could all use some extra mental apprehension skills.

I am a diehard CBT fan. I firmly believe we have the power to change our thoughts and behaviors with the right practice. We may have learned to think negatively, but we can also learn to think more positively.

In CBT, we refer to any kind of thinking error as cognitive distortions. They are thinking patterns, errors, or beliefs consisting of an incorrect assumption that cause you to feel worse. Usually, these cognitive distortions become a kind of thinking ‘habit’ as they develop over time.

In order to identify exactly where — in our busy traffic of thoughts — we’re taking the wrong turn, we need to understand that we’re used to the way we think. Our brain is lazy and likes to repeat the same thinking patterns on a day-to-day basis (sooo efficient). We don’t automatically second-guess all of our thoughts, especially because the faulty ones are often subtle. Realizing this will help us understand why our thinking patterns won’t disappear after correcting them once, and why we need to be especially mindful.

It’s easy to go with what we’re familiar with.

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