How to challenge anxiety provoking thought traps (1 minute read)
How to challenge anxiety provoking thought traps (1 minute read)
This post “How to challenge anxiety provoking thought traps” is about how you can manage anxiety by understanding thought traps.
There are many anxiety inducing patterns often called cognitive distortions or thought traps.
These are ways of thinking that seem true but are in fact not reasonable, realistic or relevant to the situation.
Noticing when we are using thought traps and countering them is an important part of traditional CBT-exercises that also can reduce symptoms of anxiety.
A cognitive distortion is active in our minds when we experience an upsetting event and we think about it in these ways.
The first step to challenge cognitive distortions is to identify what the problem is and how extensive it is.
Often it is useful to during the day when experiencing a frustration, map the exact content of your thoughts and then compare them to the different cognitive distortions to see which ones you tend to use frequently.
The next step is then to create an alternative statement that is more realistic and likely.
Here, it is often helpful to think what you would tell a friend having the same problem with the same distortions.
More about this in the next post on this topic.
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