Many people who have a mental illness/psychiatric diagnosis talk about struggling to change their negative thought patterns. Negative thought patterns are thoughts that come into your head that are not wanted or needed. Sometimes it is like you are hearing another person say the words, and sometimes it is like you are saying the words about yourself. The words might say things like:

• You are too fat.
• I'm so stupid.
• I'm an idiot.
• You don't know what you are talking about.
• Why did I do that?
• What was I thinking?
• I can't do this!
• I am so lazy.
• You are worthless.

… and the thoughts go on and on and on.

After a while the negative thoughts become a habit (of thinking) and because it becomes a habit, it turns into something that happens much too often. It can be hard to change thought patterns. After a while negative thought patterns sneak into thoughts more and more. Before you realize it, the negative thoughts have taken over your life. Habits are tough to break.

Some people use a rubber band on their wrist. Every time they think a negative thought they snap the rubber band on their wrist. For some people it seems to work well, for others it seems to work not as well. Trying to resist a thought is hard. It may seem as if, while you are trying to resist the negative thought, the thought pattern gets even stronger because you are concentrating on it so much.

Many people say they have had success with thought replacement. When a negative thought continually appears in your mind, you can turn the thought with a question or another thought. People work at it until the negative thought triggers a less negative thought. For example:

If you are thinking, “I am so fat,” you might try to think right afterwards, “but I am working on being more healthy.” This is a type of thought redirection. You are not so much trying to muscle your thoughts into submission, so you can then think more positive thoughts all the time. That can be really hard. Then for the next couple of minutes, when you think of what you can and might do to become healthier, it not only feels better, but you’re thinking is more constructive.

When you work on this you try to make the thoughts change automatically, like they are tied together. When one thought happens you want the second more positive thought to happen as automatically as possible.

Another way to turn things around can be to ask what you want. Say your mind keeps thinking, “I am so lazy.” This is a slightly different kind of thought linking, so when you think, “I am so lazy,” you say, “But feeling lazy feels yucky, what is it that I want?” Then you think about things that you would like to do, “I would like to have enough energy to clean my house or go to the mall or go for a walk.”

It's another type of thought redirection. You are trying to think thoughts about what you want, not just thoughts you don't want or wish you weren't thinking at all. Practicing this can make it more automatic. That way, there is a positive response for many of the negative thoughts you might have.

Other people use visualization to help them think in a more positive way. Some people use scenes to try to see things differently. They might use humor or visualize something they really would like to have happen. When the thought that they are lazy comes into their heads, they think about running a marathon, walking around the block or just being healthier.

Whatever you choose to do, try to make the change to positive thoughts occur automatically. This may not happen right away, but the more you work at it, the more natural it becomes.

When you think, “I can't do this,” you can automatically ask, “What do I want?” I want to get up and move more, or I can do this or that.

That is the end goal, to automatically redirect. It would be nice to never have another negative thought ever happen, but that isn't realistic. What you want to do is have more control over what you are thinking. One way you can do that is through thought redirection.