A short instructional YouTube clip by Dr. Aziz about controlling negative thoughts. He argues that common responses—positive affirmations or trying to ignore thoughts—usually fail. Instead he recommends observing negative thoughts and simply labeling them as "thinking" (or "thought") to disengage from their content, then refocusing attention; he demonstrates this with a brief example.
Most things people do to try to control negative thoughts don't work. One, maybe it's positive affirmations. You have negative thought and you say no, this I am good looking or people like me and you try to override the negative thought. In fact, affirmation, people love that stuff. And it never really works because that negative thought keeps staying there. The other thing is trying to ignore it like I don't hear it, I don't hear it. But you do hear it because it's in your own mind. So how do you really control negative thoughts? You have to observe them and just note it as thinking. It helps you disengage from it. That's the secret. So negative thought, you're ugly. You messed that up. Up. Instead of saying really? Oh no, what should I do? You say ah, thinking or thought and then focus on something else. Oh, it comes back oh, thinking. Oh thinking. You just name it as thinking. Focus on something else. Don't engage with the content and it will dissolve rapidly.
