Life with anxiety can often lead to challenges that interfere with day-to-day functioning. It’s often characterized by racing thoughts, worry, and sometimes fear of the unknown.
It isn’t uncommon to have some negative thoughts from time to time. However, if you’re having negative thoughts that cause you to get stuck and worsen your anxiety, it could be something called a thought trap.
Let’s take a closer look at common thought traps and how they can keep you stuck in anxiety.
Black-and-White Thinking
A common thought trap that surrounds anxiety is the idea of all-or-nothing thinking. Everything is either black or white, this or that. People, views, and ideas all reside on one end of the spectrum or the other. There is no in-between.
For example, you may find yourself thinking if you make a mistake at work, you’re instantly going to get fired. Similarly, you may feel that when someone does something off-putting, it must mean they’re a bad person.
Unfortunately, this habit of black-and-white thinking is actually a cognitive distortion that alters reality. Most things in life can fall into the gray area in some fashion. If you get stuck in this thought trap, it can result in some unrealistic expectations for yourself and of others. When things fall into that negative category, it can cause unnecessary stress.
Catastrophic Thinking
Another common thought trap is catastrophizing situations or expecting the worst-case scenario. This is more commonly seen with any type of conflict or challenging situation.
For example, a little disagreement with your partner suddenly transforms into a thought that your relationship will be over or your partner will no longer have affectionate feelings towards you.
This type of thinking can hinder problem-solving and cause high levels of stress. The unknown and jumping to extreme conclusions will intensify any anxiety you may already be having or keep you stuck in place.
Overgeneralization
Overgeneralization occurs when you use one specific situation or outcome and apply it broadly to many other situations. This often results in a negative outlook and assuming the worst outcome will happen.
You may have gone on one bad date, so your thought process going forward is that you’re never going to find a partner. Or you gave a work presentation that didn’t land as well as you expected, so now you assume you’re just bad at presenting.
Overgeneralization can often lead to avoidance and cautious behaviors. In certain social situations, it can cause you to be uncomfortable and fuel social anxiety.
Discounting the Positive
Discounting the positive is exactly as it sounds. This type of thought pattern leads you to dismiss any positive outcomes or praise you may receive.
For instance, you receive positive comments from your colleagues on a project. Rather than accept it for what it is, you attribute it to them just being nice and believing they actually think the worst.
This type of thinking will keep you in a negative mindset. You overlook all the positive things and instead focus on one bad part. It can cause you to have reduced self-esteem, which can in turn lead to increasing anxiety.
Emotional Thinking Versus Reality
As humans, we have a natural tendency to be emotional beings. Emotion isn’t always rooted in 100% factual information. Emotional reasoning leads you down a path of assuming your emotions are a direct reflection of the reality of a situation.
Maybe you’re scared about going to a doctor’s appointment, because who loves going to the doctor? Your first instinct is that you’re going to get bad news.
When you let your emotions drive you into a negative mindset, it can cause you to overlook information that could contradict your feelings. Negative emotions can drive anxiety.
What Can You Do?
If you’re someone prone to thought traps, there is one important thing to remember. Anxiety is a very manageable condition. Therapy for anxiety can help you learn about any thought traps that are keeping you stuck and help develop strategies for overcoming them.
Want to learn more? Feel free to set up an appointment with us anytime to take a deeper dive into recognizing thought traps and managing them.
Learn more about anxiety therapy in Colorado.
