Thinking Positive.
Dr. Chittaranjan Andrade.
The author is additional Professor and Head,
Department of Psychopharmacology, National Institute of Mental
Health and Neurosciences, Bangalore.
All of us experience feelings of anxiety and depression as a reaction to the stresses and strain of everyday life. these mood disturbances can sometimes become quite serious. Whatever the extent to which we are affected, there is a simple and practical way to improving our emotional well-being.
Commonsense tells us that the way we think can affect the way we feel. Yet, few of us really change our ways of thinking in order to experience better mental health. In fact, few of us even know what to change, and how to go about it. This article therefore examines the concept of healthy thinking as a means to promoting emotional well-being.
The concept is best explained through the use of a parallel. Physicians emphasise the need for hygiene in the prevention of illness. We know that we must boil water before drinking it, that we must wash our hands before eating, and that our environment must be clean to discourage the proliferation of pests that spread disease.
Likewise, in the field of mental health, psychiatrists recognise that faulty patterns of thinking may produce stress-related emotional distrbances such as anxiety and depression. Many such "unhygienic" thought processes and patterns have been identified. These have become the focus of a practical, commonsense and effective form of treatment called cognitive theraphy.
Cognitive theraphy seeks first to identify dysfunctional thought processes, and next to correct them. Important dysfunctional ways of thinking include cognitive distortions, repeated intrusive thoughts, unrealistic assumptions, and others.
Cognitive distortions.
These are maladaptative thinking patterns that distort reality in a negative way, and make us perceive the world as being more hostile than it actually is. Arbitrary inference selective abstraction, over-generalisation, magnification, and minimisation are examples of cognitive distortions.
Arbitrary inference refers to the drawing of an unjustified conclusion. For example, a businessman never takes his wife on any of his official trips. His wife is upset. She concludes that he is concealing something from her, perhaps an extramarital affair. She neglects other possible explanations.
Selective abstraction is the focussing of attention on one detaqil without regard to the rest of the picture. For example, a young man is depressed because he does not have a motorcycle. He feels that no girl will take him seriously unless he has a "bike". He does not consider that he has several assets such as intelligence and a pleasing personality. To him, these are of little importance.
Over-generalisation is the drawing of a general conclusion based upon a limited event. For example, a father discovers that his adolescent son has been smoking. He is distraught. He concludes that the boy has picked up this habit from bad company. He concludes that the boy is probably taking drugs as well. He concludes that his son is untrustworthy, and requires close supervision. He neglects to take into account the possiblity that his son, like many other youngsters his age, has probably merely been experimenting with the experience.
Magnification is making mountains of molehills. Failing in an important examination is an unhappy event, but it, is not the end of the world. A sensible student would grieve briefly, then pick up the pieces of his life and begin studying again.
Minimisation is an undervaluation of positive attributes. A woman may have low self-esteem because she is not well-off. She neglects the respect that she commands for being an efficient employee, a good mother, a caring wife, a cheerful neighbour, and a loyal friend.
When we are umnhappy, it is often because we are using a multiplicity of such cognitive distortions. To lessen our emotional burden, we need to identify the distortions that are responsible for our unhappinesses, recognise these distortions for what they are, and seek alternate explanations for the events that are being distorted.
Repeated intrusive (automatic) thoughts
When we are unhappy, our sadness is often sustained by repeated, intrusive thoughts. These push themselves into consciousness and preoccupy or even dominate the mind, leaving little opportunity for the experience of happier thoughts. There are several categories of such automatic thoughts.
Low self-regard
These are thoughts that express an unjustified
lack of self-confidence. Examples are: "I cannot do it."
"I'm not as pretty as my friends." "No girl is
ever going to look at me." "I'm going to be a failure
in life." "I don't deserve to live."
Excessive self-depreciation
These are thoughts that criticise the self to
an extent more than is justified. Examples are:"I should
have been more careful." "I shouldn't have said that."
"I shouldn't have done that."
Excessive self-blame
These are thoughts that assume more than
is justified. Examples are: "I've been a bad mother."
"I've wasted my life." "It's all my fault."