Therapist Materials for Automatic Thoughts and Thinking Traps

Abstract

The session in this chapter covers the concept of automatic thoughts, which are fast, subjective interpretations of the world. Automatic thoughts influence and are influenced by emotion. Clients are often not fully aware of automatic thoughts, and are often not aware of their highly subjective nature. There is more than one possible interpretation of a situation, and the skill of cognitive flexibility involves being able to consider various interpretations. This session also discusses how thinking traps (such as probability overestimation and catastrophizing) influence thoughts to produce more intense negative emotion. Clients are taught to develop greater flexibility in thoughts by learning cognitive reappraisal, which allows them to identify thinking traps and to generate alternative appraisals.