

They found that in people with both depression and HIV/AIDS, negative automatic thoughts are associated with depressive symptoms, and vice versa (Riley et al., 2017). In a study by Riley et al., their focus was on the relationship between automatic thoughts and depression in a research group of people living with HIV/AIDS. Studies have indicated that there are a variety of consequences of being disposed toward negative automatic thoughts rather than positive automatic thoughts. Before long, researchers decided that positive automatic thoughts were also important to study, and particularly the relationship between both positive and negative automatic thoughts (Ingram & Wisnicki, 1988). Relevant research into automatic thinking began with Aaron Beck’s research into how negative automatic thoughts affect the development of depression (Beck et al., 1979). However, people can indirectly control these thoughts by challenging the beliefs that lead to them.

Automatic thoughts can be considered “surface-level, non-volitional, stream-of-consciousness cognitions” that “can appear in the form of descriptions, inferences, or situation-specific evaluations” (Soflau & David, 2017).Īs the name indicates, these automatic thoughts cannot be controlled by people directly, since they are reflexive reactions based on the beliefs people hold about themselves and the world. 5 CBT Worksheets For Challenging Negative Self-Talk and Automatic ThoughtsĪutomatic thinking refers to automatic thoughts that stem from beliefs people hold about themselves and the world (Soflau & David, 2017).Cognitive Restructuring of Core Beliefs and Automatic Thoughts.50+ Examples of Positive and Negative Automatic Thoughts.Our Cognitive Bias: Construction of the Self-Concept.
