In a previous section, one learnt about the “naming the thought” method to weaken negative thoughts. There are also other effective methods one can use to weaken negative thoughts, and on this webpage, I will share one which I call the “comparing evidence” method.
We all love imagination, and it can be a blessing that can bring much joy.
Unfortunately, imagination, when it goes wrong, can lead to negative thoughts. That is, one may imagine things to be negative when the reality is different.
One way to weaken negative thoughts is to adopt an approach used in legal courts. In court, one does not find a person guilty on the basis of imagination. The Judge does not say, “I think you should go to prison because I imagine that you stole your neighbour’s bicycle”. Rather, courts rely on real evidence, such as a witness statement or a video of the person stealing the bicycle. Like in a real court, one can check if the negative thought is based on evidence or imagination. i.e. what real evidence does one have that proves that the negative thought is true, and what real evidence does one have that proves that the negative thought is not true? The use of evidence to weaken a negative thought is what I call the “comparing evidence” method.
For example, a person may have the negative thought that “everyone in the office hates me”. In this situation, the person can look for evidence for and against the negative thought.
Imagine that this person has four colleagues. One of those colleagues always shouts at the person, so this could be taken as evidence that that colleague “hates” the person. However, when looking at the other three colleagues, one is always smiling when looked at, another is always helpful, and the third is always polite.
When comparing the evidence for and against the negative thought, it quickly becomes clear that only one colleague is unpleasant, whereas the other three colleagues are very nice. The person realises that the overall evidence does not support the negative thought, “everyone hates me”. In this way, the negative thought is now weakened, as the person realises it was based on imagination rather than evidence.
Here is another short example of the “comparing evidence” method being used to weaken a negative thought.
Anita is to have a blood test tomorrow to see if she has diabetes. Even though the blood test is tomorrow, she has already decided that she has diabetes, and this makes her very anxious. As Anita senses this negative thought, she decides to use the “comparing evidence” method to weaken the thought.
She follows the “stop-weaken-ignore” steps.
Stop the thought briefly:
She uses her inner voice and tells herself, “Stop”
Analyse evidence:
She then tries to gather any evidence that justifies her negative thought that she has diabetes. She then realises that she actually has no real evidence that she has diabetes, as no blood test has been done so far. She then tries to provide evidence that she does not have diabetes. Again, she realises, at this point, there is no evidence to prove that either. Anita realises that she has no evidence to prove either way whether she has diabetes or not. She realises that the negative thought that she has diabetes is not valid, and was based on imagination rather than reality. This realisation weakens the negative thought.
Ignore the thought:
Anita ignores the weakened negative thought and carries on with her day, telling herself she will wait until she actually gets the blood test results, rather than worrying about it.
As you have seen in the examples, when searching for evidence, one often realises that there is little or no evidence to support a negative thought. The “comparing evidence” method is very effective at weakening thoughts, and once one does it a few times, it becomes very quick.