Irrational Thoughts Are Not Negative Thoughts

The Socratic dialogue on irrational thoughts and their correction is a clear objective in most debates in the field of psychology. From disorders such as social anxiety to violence in interpersonal relationships and even post-traumatic stress.

Cognitive restructuring is an analogy of psychological treatment. It even seems to have crossed the marked boundaries of the different models and psychological currents. It always tries to determine which treatment is the most justified, the most useful and the most effective.

Cognitive restructuring can be put into practice from the evaluation itself and be meaningful until the end of therapy. It is an attempt to establish an individual’s irrational thoughts and develop alternative thoughts about the same idea.

After all, what could be more relevant than a person who is able to see the influence of those irrational thoughts on his state of mind?  In addition, they establish their subsequent awareness and behaviors.

The more cognitive restructuring becomes a common practice, the more we see that the individual will be able to discover their own irrational thoughts. In addition, they will propose many more appropriate thoughts instead.

However, developing those kinds of unwavering thoughts often confuses people. That is because one represents positive thoughts instead of rational thoughts.

The Differences Between Rational and Irrational Thoughts

Irrational thoughts provoke extremely unpleasant emotional reactions. They can range from anger to bitterness and even terror. They take a long time and are expressed in absolute terms – using adverbs like “never” or “always.”

In turn, this has to do with what a person needs to be happy. Or what someone should be, do or have. That is, with self-imposed requirements.

Moreover, these thoughts are usually uncontrollable. Rational thoughts, on the other hand, can be proven. They give rise to emotions of a much smaller intensity. For example, disgust instead of anger; rejection instead of bitterness; fear instead of terror.

It is important that we emphasize that anger is not replaced by happiness either. Nor is bitterness replaced by contentment or fear by courage. Rational thoughts must be realistic and modified. Formulated in overly positive terms, it can also become an irrational thought.

In addition, an individual will almost certainly not be able to imagine such thoughts if he or she sees alternative and rational thoughts as positive thinking. A diminished state of mind and a tunnel vision towards the negative will in turn turn this task into a Herculean task.

An example: Patricia loses her job

For example, imagine a 40-year-old woman, Patricia. She loses her job as a bank clerk. These are the irrational thoughts Patricia may have: “I’ll never find a job again,” “I’m useless,” or “I should have worked more hours.” We have discussed it before, among other things, someone can perceive absolute terms that cannot be verified.

With practice, Patricia could develop alternative rational thoughts. They are then better adapted to the situation. We give some examples.

“I don’t know if I’ll find a job again, but I’ll do my best to get one,” “I’ve lost my job, but that doesn’t mean I’m useless. They just didn’t need me anymore and it’s not personal. I’m still a valuable person,” or “I could have worked more hours, but I don’t even know if it had anything to do with my dismissal.”

As you can see in the second set of thoughts, they do not contain absolute terms. The person did not rush to decisions based on interventions or negative self-assessments that came from external events.

Disturbing Positive Thinking

Patricia may not know how to properly replace the irrational thoughts. Perhaps the statement or the guidelines she has been given are not correct. She may also really believe that the following thoughts are the alternative to the irrational thoughts in this situation.

“Tomorrow I will find work and earn as much money as I would at the bank,” “I am the best employee there is and my skills are superior to everyone else” or “I am sure that working more hours has nothing to do with my was fired and that it only happened because the boss didn’t like me.”

Contrary to popular culture, positive thinking does not mean that everything will go your way. So this kind of thinking is full of pitfalls.

Authors like Barbara Ehrenreich or Derren Brown have already discussed the harm of overly positive thinking. They explain how deceptive it is. After all, you can come to decisions that can be extremely unsuitable and unrealistic. They are decisions based on attributions and interventions that have no empirical value whatsoever.

Irrational thoughts vs positive thoughts

It is important that we form assessments in a well – adapted way. Irrational thoughts can be negative. In fact, the vast majority is negative. However, they can also be positive.

The first kind can lead to aggravated emotional reactions when we take them into account. The latter can also lead to emotional expressions that are too intense.

This is especially true when you cannot fulfill them or when they lead to too high expectations. The reason is that they do not rely on facts and reliable information. It also happens when we look at them in absolute terms.

Moreover, it is also important to pay special attention to an individual’s conception. People need to understand the characteristics from which rational thinking arises. To do this, you need to start practicing with examples or metaphors. Then you can work on someone’s irrational thoughts.

You also need to train beforehand. At some point, the proposal of the daily alternative thoughts must become an automatism. After all, thanks to the training, it is then certain that this is the most appropriate, effective and useful way for a particular person.