"Humans, and our brains, have evolved such that we are capable of language, something no other mammals have," explained McLean'south Lisa W. Coyne, PhD. "Our ability to speak, think abstractly, and reason gives us the ability to plan, trouble solve, interact in groups, and learn indirectly, in the absenteeism of our direct experience. For case, you might take learned not to touch a hot stove because your parents told yous 'Don't touch, information technology's hot!'"

Moreover, Coyne stated, "Everyone has a mind that 'talks' to them. We think of this as our verbal mind or our 'advisor.' It's the part of you that is linked to your languaging brain, whose function is to serve as your threat detector."

Having a threat detector or "critical voice" is a adept affair. "It points out all the stuff that could be dangerous to u.s., including stuff that might happen in the hereafter and all of our missteps from the past," said Coyne, a senior clinical consultant at McLean's Child and Adolescent OCD Plant.

"Its function is to assistance usa to avoid making the same mistakes so that we are physically and existentially safe," she added.

How Nosotros Feel Our Disquisitional Voice

People "do not hear voices, per se," Coyne explained. "But we practice observe critical thoughts popping up as we go through our days." She stated that "we take evolved to feel our thoughts every bit literal truths. It's what allows us to learn indirectly past listening to what other people say, rather than just directly through our ain experience."

Our inner phonation, Coyne stated, "is always on, and it'due south overinclusive in its estimation of what is threatening." These are "features, not bugs" of our critical vocalization, she said. "Information technology wouldn't exist a nifty threat detector if you could turn it off at will, and information technology wouldn't exist a bully threat detector if it somehow underestimated threats, right?"

Getting Stuck

Our nonstop, always cautious critical voice, Coyne said, is "an incredible ability, a boon to our survival, but also comes with a dark side."

"People encounter trouble when they go stuck listening to their mind solely, rather than being out in the earth and noticing that sometimes the mind isn't right about what it thinks," Coyne stated.

The critical voice, she said, can cause people to "focus solely on avoiding unwanted thoughts and to avoid situations that trigger those thoughts." This is defined as "experiential avoidance."

"If it's our default for managing unwanted thoughts, it can trap us, such that we lose our focus on other, more important things in our lives," said Coyne. "The trouble? Not only does this focus on getting stuff out of our heads capture our attention, but it also ofttimes backfires—sometimes the more y'all try not to think about something, the more information technology sticks around."

Illustration of figure holding knees

According to Coyne, the critical vox is a crucial role of our lives, even though sometimes information technology tin take over our thoughts

Coyne offered a real-world example of how this works: "My heed may say something like 'Amend not speak upwards in that meeting, people will remember you are stupid, and that would be embarrassing.' I might experience a concrete reaction (my heart rate might increase). Or an emotional reaction (I'll feel nervous).

And, of grade, I'd accept a cognitive reaction (should I not speak upward? What's the right thing to say so I don't look stupid?). This is important because we also treat unpleasant or unwanted thoughts—fifty-fifty though they are just thoughts—equally actual truths that nosotros must avoid, or fix, or suppress, or change."

Detaching From That Critical Voice

"Having a critical, threat-detecting mind isn't the problem," Coyne asserted. "Rather, it'southward our response to that critical mind that tin can trap united states of america."

To avoid these, Coyne reported that some people engage with mental health professionals by using cognitive behavior therapy (CBT). "This approach volition teach you skills for how to manage these types of thoughts past helping you undermine their faulty logic or overestimation of threat," she explained.

Approaches like credence and commitment therapy (Human action) or credence-based behavior therapy can too be helpful. These methods, Coyne said, "assistance you change your relationship to your thoughts, such that you go more than skilled at noticing them mindfully and making a space for them without reacting so that you are no longer hooked by them."

In essence, yous might find your critical listen chattering away at yous, but it volition no longer take upwards key importance it once did and leave y'all free to choose what direction to take in your life.

Elementary Steps to Stop Negative Thoughts

While some may need to seek help from professionals, Coyne said there are "unproblematic steps that folks might practice, helping them detach from that critical vox and build more than joy and vitality and connectedness in their lives."

1. Pause a Moment

If you are feeling stressed, anxious, or stuck in negative thinking patterns, PAUSE. Focus your awareness on the world around you with your 5 senses.

2. Notice the Difference

Notice the difference between being stuck in your thoughts vs. experiencing the present moment through your five senses. Detect also what you lot have been up to in your mind. Were you arguing with yourself? Struggling with disproving negative or critical cocky-evaluations? Trying to push unpleasant thoughts or images out of your head? Inquire yourself whether this mental struggle is serving you well.

3. Characterization Your Thoughts

If it isn't, see if you tin can step back and Label your thoughts as they are, rather than literal truths. For case, y'all might practice slowing downwards your thoughts and adding to them the stalk "I am having the thought that …." Continue this practise of labeling, without attempting to soften, change, or avoid any thoughts you happen to exist having. See if you tin notice what it is like to have some distance betwixt you lot—the thinker—and your thoughts.

4. Cull Your Intention

Once you have PAUSED from your mental struggle, NOTICED what'due south happening and how it'due south been working, and LABELED your thoughts for what they are—simple, mental weather that will come up and get—y'all are better able to Cull your intention, and the side by side right step for you. Are you going to continue to struggle with your thoughts? Or you lot tin choose to take a small step toward something that matters to you in your life.