Automatic Negative Thoughts: Catching the ANTs
United States Department of Homeland Security
Key Points
- Negativity bias: we favor false alarms over no alarms and overlearn negative events.
- This results in more negative emotions but is adaptive for our survival.
- Negativity bias accounts for many PTSD symptoms.
- Negativity bias also results in automatic negative thoughts (ANTs).
- People who have been traumatized tend to have ANTs that are personal, pervasive, and permanent. Additional ANTs include self-blame and hindsight bias.
- Questions to screen for a potential ANT are: is it logical? Is there evidence? And does it matter?
