aura-background-gradientaura-background-gradient
30 sec preview
Get Started Free

Generating Alternative Thoughts

5 Min
Healthy Mind
8.8k+ Plays
360+ Favorites

Avatar
Happiness Insight
Clinical Psychologists Wellbeing Experts
We can't get rid of our thoughts, but we can generate more helpful and realistic thoughts. This exercise takes you through the process of Socratic questioning, which will help you to engage in more effective ways of thinking about a situation.
From the community
11 reflections
B
Brittany
Utilize
I like the concept of fact checking thoughts as they arise. Especially the ones that have emotional pull. Considering them as something needing to be fact checked can in itself create space between me and the thought, while addressing its origin and weight. Thank you ๐Ÿ™๐Ÿผ
A
Angie
Itโ€™s me, not the person.
I learned that my anxiety towards Amanda and that situation isnโ€™t about her. Itโ€™s about me. I feel like I failed her as a friend and I feel like Iโ€™m not a good friend.
P
Patrick
Alternative thoughts
I learned that it is possible to replace negative thoughts with realistic ones, even positive ones. By putting myself in someone elseโ€™s shoes and also actively seeking a new way of thinking, I can turn what first seems bad into something good. Prayer helps a lot with this too
H
Herb
Challenging Thoughts
Much better than โ€œ100% trueโ€ - โ€œis this thought realistic?โ€ Might be a good tool to use in the early stages of being triggered.
H
Herb
Challenging Thoghts
โ€œ100% trueโ€ is an unreasonable standard for me. Iโ€™m not convinced that the good things in life are 100% trueโ€ฆ and I wouldnโ€™t want to be robbed of enjoying good thoughts that I canโ€™t prove are 100% true. I know for a fact that in the present moment Iโ€™m not under attack but a panic attack still results from a set of โ€œloose factsโ€ that I can I very effectively spin into โ€œa chanceโ€ of being trueโ€ฆ and thatโ€™s enough to keep the trigger active. 100% true is equally as ineffective as having a standard to prove 100% false.
J
Judy
How nice to have tools to look at my thoughts
Like a sculpture I could walk around I can photo graph polish chisel sand spect closer and just play with this. To be more reflective and say โ€œahhhโ€ โ€œhmmโ€ without getting so reactive -
L
Linda
Generating Alternative Thoughts
This was a good reminder to look at my thoughts and ask myself some questions - especially am I looking at things in black and white as I tend to do quite often. Most of life is lived in the gray area but growing up as I did - - things were white ( perfect as my mother saw it) or BLACK AS HELL (Totally Incorrect, not done or looked at the way my mother would). This has created much pain and difficulty for me but Iโ€™m trying.
S
Stephie ๐Ÿ’œ
Intrusive thoughts session 3
I leaned to ask myself questions when I have a negative intrusive thought that makes me feel bad. Is this thought based on reality? Any evidence for or against thought? Just to try and see it from a different angle . Answering those questions to myself and then generating a thought that is way more based in reality than the original thought.
I
Ian
It is useful to think about reframing thoughts to be more positive
The most useful questions for me are is the thought realistic and is it helpful
J
Jennifer
Our thoughts
This was very helpful to me. It gave me questions I can ask myself when having a thought that may not serve me at all. Making room for more realistic, positive thoughts. Reframing my mind. We can't stop our thoughts. They will always come to us like our heart beating or our breathing. But we sure can create a better mindset for ourselves.
T
T
CBT
Since we canโ€™t stop negative thoughts, the way to increase comfort is to reframe the thoughts into a more realistic thought