The human brain does a lot of thinking. In fact, research suggests that we could have up to 6,000 thoughts every single day. But have you ever stopped to wonder how many of those thoughts are negative?

Chances are, it’s a lot – especially if you struggle with poor mental health. Humans are, at the end of the day, innately negative – we’re hardwired to focus on the bad over the good in order to survive. But on top of this, some people are afflicted by a kind of negative thinking known as ‘automatic negative thoughts’.

You may not have heard of the term before, but chances are you’ve experienced at least one or two automatic negative thoughts in your lifetime. A kind of negative thinking linked to our underlying core beliefs, automatic negative thoughts (or ANTs) are thoughts that occur in response to everyday events, for example, telling yourself that you’re “weak” or “stupid” when something goes wrong. These thoughts are usually subconscious – aka, you don’t realise they’re happening – but they can have a massive impact on your wellbeing.

Automatic negative thoughts: what they are and how to deal with them