From Mind to Body - Change Negative Thinking for Better Health Part 1

From mind to body: what the mind thinks affects how the body works in the most fundamental way, from the cellular level up to the whole system.  Research in the last 40 years or so has found  that issues that trouble the mind ultimately trouble the body as well.  Stress, especially chronic stress, has been shown to have severe consequences to health and contribute to heart disease, cancer, type 2 diabetes. The mind is an unmeasurable force with very measurable effects.

A Brief Look at the Mind-Body Problem

How the mind interacts with the body, however, is a mystery that has perplexed philosophers for centuries.  Renee Descartes, a French philosopher in the sixteen hundreds, was the first to discuss this, an issue that later became known as the mind-body problem.  According to Descartes,  the body/brain is matter, so like all matter it occupies space, has a certain weight, shape, color, etc.  The mind, on the other hand, does not have such properties. You cannot say that your mind is a sphere that has weight or occupies a certain space inside the skull.  You can measure the weight of the brain (about 3 lbs.), but you cannot measure the mind. You can dissect and catalogue the various structures  in the brain, but you cannot slice the mind into microscopic slivers for study.  Brain processes have electrochemical properties, but what is the chemical composition of a New Year’s resolution or deciding where to go on vacation next summer or what to buy at the grocery store tomorrow? The mind and the body are not only completely different entities,  but they are different in such a fundamental way that there is no possible way that they can interact in a meaningful way.

Some Funny Theories about the Mind-Body Interaction

Since Descartes, there have been some funny theories about how the mind and brain (matter) interact.  Some philosophers did away with matter and theorized that reality consists only of minds and ideas and that physical objects exist only when they are perceived.  If you don’t see it, touch it, perceive it in some way, it does not exist.  I guess that philosopher did not believe in object permanence. I bet it caused some interesting arguments in his household, about whether the shoes in the middle of the room existed there before someone tripped over them. 

Others solved the problem by saying that the mind is a by-product of brain activity, sort of like the mist at the bottom of a waterfall; it’s there but it has no effect on the force of the waterfall.  It’s just a byproduct of water hitting the rocks at the bottom and the temperature difference between water and air. In that theory, the mind has no power to affect behavior; the mind is just by-product of neurons firing.  I guess that’s why my home office is messy.  My mind says, “you have to organize the office,” but it does not have the power to make my body do anything, so I watch an episode of Rings of Power instead.

Then came the scientific revolution, which emphasized strict quantitative measurement and abstract reasoning to understand the laws of the universe. Scientific explanations with focus on materialism were favored, with the view that nature was a machine and life the result of blind mechanical forces . The scientific method, with its strict adherence to quantifiable and measurable variables had no need or room for the mind. The movement of molecules and chemicals and electrical charges provide all the information you need.  It’s a good thing my chemicals know how to write and are willing to do so, because if it were up to my mind, I’d be watching another episode of Rings of Power.

Fortunately, in the last half century. the mind has been invited to the table. Cutting edge research about the interaction between the mind and the body is published every week.

However, though we still do not understand how exactly they interact, we do know that the mind has a powerful effect on the brain and ultimately the body.  In fact, our health depends on it.

So....the question is: will your mind be a force for good or ill?

Change Negative Thinking

The trouble with negative thoughts is that they are always with you, berating and criticizing and making you feel that you are the worst person in the world.   They create an internal state of chronic stress that affects your mental health and your physical health down to the level of cell functioning (read more here about how stress affects the cells). After all, there is no one else you spend as much time with as with yourself, so what you say to yourself carries a lot of weight.

Negative thoughts are cognitive distortions that disregard the facts.   They are typically long-held beliefs that are triggered automatically at times of stress or in response to challenging situations.  Because they are automatic, they are difficult to recognize --they feel true and real.  If you make a mistake, it makes sense to think “I am so stupid”,“I am such a loser”, “I can’t do anything right” “I screw everything up.”  These thoughts become the inner critic commenting and criticizing every action.  It becomes difficult to see outside the walls of that negative self-talk.

Aaron Beck, a psychologist in the 1970s, was the first to study cognitive distortions and their effect on emotional functioning. Cognitive Behavior Therapy was the result of his years of study. CBT is a treatment modality that helps people learn to recognize and change distorted thoughts and beliefs that affect their functioning and quality of life.  

How to Change Negative Thinking

In order to change your negative thoughts, you first have to recognize them.  It is a little tricky in the beginning because you are so used to them that they feel normal.  They are the kind of thoughts that you would never call your best friend, but don’t hesitate to call yourself for the smallest mistake.   A good way to identify a negative thought is to ask yourself, “would I say this to my best friend? Would I call my best friend a loser?” If the answer is no, which pretty much always is, then you have identified a negative thought or narrative.  

Label the thought for what it is, a negative thought, and take a few deep breaths to compose yourself and get your bearings.

Give your thought a name - it might seem childish, but it helps to put some distance between you and the negative thought.  With kids I often start with a silly name that helps them see clearly that negative thoughts are harmful -- “Stinkin’ Thinkin’," for example.  I always ask them, however, to think of a name that is meaningful to them. 

What is a name that you would give your negative thoughts?

Now it’s time to roll up your sleeves for some work. Once you have recognized the  negative thought and labeled it, start questioning the evidence for that belief or thought. Say you had a passing conversation with a coworker who seemed uninterested in what you were saying and was eager to leave.  As you walk away, the negative thoughts start piling up: “she doesn’t like me, she thinks i am boring, she wanted to get away from me as soon as possible, nobody likes me here, they all think I am stupid.”  Mind-reading is an example of a cognitive distortion. It makes us think we know what others are thinking and feeling. Of course, since most of us don’t have mind-reading powers, thank God!, such beliefs are assumptions and projections on our part. We feel bad, so we assume that our bad feelings are caused by someone else’s behavior.  So it pays to explore the evidence for those thoughts. It means looking for data that would provide information confirming or disconfirming the accuracy of your thoughts.  For example, if you typically have positive interactions with that person then the evidence does not support the beliefs in that scenario.

Consider alternative explanations for the situation that have nothing to do with your negative assumptions. Alternative explanations empower you to think of the bigger picture, of other factors that could explain what happened.  Perhaps the coworker forgot to send an urgent email or received a message that she needed to call her child’s school or any number of other factors.  Of course, you will not know what other alternative explanation is actually the correct one.  The important part is to get away from the negative assumptions about you.

Throughout this process focus on your breath.  Breathing is a very centering activity that is fully in your control.  Slow breath in, hold, veeeery slow breath out. (read here to learn a 60 second breathing exercise). Use a mantra, a word or expression that can focus you as well, Humming the sound “ohmmmm” is a centuries old way to anchor your experience to a calming force. Singing and humming are excellent ways to activate the part of your nervous system that controls the relaxation response. (Click here to read about the powers of the vagus nerve.)

Once you have identified a negative thought, write it down.  The two column method is a powerful yet simple way to capture a negative thought and challenge it, an all-in-one move. Draw a line down the middle of the page in your journal book. On the left side, write your negative thought, “I am a failure at everything.”  On the right side, write positive, reality-based challenges to that thought, “I am really good at following through on commitments,” “I am organized,”  “I care about doing my job well,” and so on.  For in-depth explanations and many more examples, read “Feeling Good” by David Burns, who was an early student of Aaron Becks, whom I mentioned above.

Ultimately, the process of changing negative thoughts is simple and straightforward. But the actual work is arduous and challenging because negative thoughts have the power and intensity of years of practice and emotions behind them. The help of a psychologist trained in cognitive behavior therapy can make that labor more manageable and successful and the journey less lonely.

In Part II of this series we will talk about ruminations, the very unpleasant and univited "first cousin" of negative thoughts. If you wish to receive the post automatically, be sure to sign up.

Dr. Dana Watts

Clinical Psychologist

Helping Clients in the Greater Cleveland Area

440-895-1100