Some Basic Points About Negative Self-Talk

Hi all,
Here is some cool info I found on Negative Self-Talk.

Check it out:

source: The Anxiety and Phobia Workbook by Edmund J. Bourne, Ph.D.

• Self-Talk is usually so automatic and subtle that you don't notice it, or the effect it has on your moods and feelings. You react without noticing what you told yourself right before you reacted.

• Self-Talk often appears in telegraphic form. One short word or image contains a whole series of thoughts, memories, or associations.

• Anxious Self-Talk is typically irrational but almost always sounds like truth.

• Negative Self-Tak perpetuates avoidance. You tell yourself that a situation is dangerous so you avoid it (...) anxious self-talk leads to avoidance, avoidance brings further anxious self talk, and around and around the circle goes.

• Negative Self-Talk is a series of bad habits. You learned to think that way. Just as you can replace other unhealthy behavioral habits (i.e. smoking, drinking too much coffee, etc.) you can replace unhealthy thinking with more positive, healthy mental habits.

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Remember, we need to learn to recognize, distinguish, disagree and disobey our negative self-talk. A great exercise is found in Life Without ED when the author suggests we ask ourselves: What does my eating disorder (ED) want me to do today? and what do I have to do in order to stay in recovery?

It is great news that negative self-talk is a series of bad habits and that it is learned behavior because that means, if others can learn to replace "unhealthy thinking with more positive, healthy mental habits" and are successful, so can you!

Peace, Hope and Love.

Lily