Automatic Negative Thoughts and the Holidays

What are Automatic Negative Thoughts?
Stop catastrophizing and start enjoying your life!

By Anne Dranitsaris, Ph. D.

Automatic negative thoughts, or ANTs, are thought patterns that lead to feelings of overwhelm, anxiety and even panic start to wreck the holiday season for us before it even begins when we aren’t aware that we can do something about them. We tell ourselves what we “should” be doing rather than checking in with ourselves and seeing what it is we need or want to do. You hear people say “I am going to be so stressed out over the holidays” or “I hate the holidays, it is so stressful,” as this is the only way they can experience it.

We become anxious and frightened of what we imagine is going to happen. For example, we worry and are fearful of being perceived as “cheap” when we buy a gift.

We are afraid someone is not going to give us a gift, which will mean that we are not loved (or appreciated, etc.).

We are afraid we won’t be invited to enough parties, signifying that we are not popular or that we really don’t have any friends.

This automatic thinking is called catastrophizing and is characterized by projecting negative ideas into the future and believing that they are true or real.

We all catastrophize. However, when it is done to excess, the result is that we create a state of fear about the future that we react to emotionally and physically. The brain and nervous system react to our thoughts as though there is a real threat in the present moment causing the body to go into “fight or flight”.

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