As humans we ‘think’ on several levels. First there is the automatic thinking, which goes on in our head, without effort. Thoughts like...

"I am hungry"

"What an idiot!

"I can’t stand it anymore"

"Oh, s**t is it that late!?"

These are all automatic thoughts. The person who had these thoughts did not deliberately go out of their way to think them.

Sometimes we are surprised by these automatic thoughts and feel ashamed, shocked, and angry at having them. This automatic thinking can be reality based ("It is 10 O’clock, I did not know it was that late") or it can be based on beliefs ("It is terrible, that it is already 10 O’clock!")

The next level of thinking is what we do with these automatic thoughts. This will-powered and deliberate thinking process is very much under our personal control. We are in charge here, but just like we are in charge of how we walk or how we drive a car, we can still make mistakes in this thinking process.

I found therapy quite difficult at first, but with the continued help and support of my CBT therapist, I've made some amazing progress and life is so much better

The third level of thinking is our beliefs and the rules we live by. These beliefs are kind of hidden away and not immediately accessible. We could compare the human mind with a computer. The automatic thoughts are the images we see on the screen, the software programmes we use are the ‘deliberate thinking processes’, whilst the hardware and deeper layer programming could be seen as our beliefs. We can’t see these programmes, we can’t see the essential hardware elements, but they are very important. Whether it is an automatic thought, a deliberate thought or a belief/rule for living; we humans have the ability to use our mind in irrational way. When we do this, our thoughts, beliefs and rules for living are not based on reality or are very counterproductive.

An example of a thought that is not true is: "No one will ever like me". Now this is a prediction of the future, and a prediction about the preferences of the entire human race! This thought can only be true if the person has questioned every person they will ever meet…You can see why a thought like this is irrational.

Other thoughts may be true (in that they are technical possibilities), but are extremely unhelpful in helping us achieve our goals. For example, when you drive home in the evening, you want to get there as quickly and as safely as is possible. If what you actually say to yourself is "A big lorry could crash into my car and I could get trapped and burn to death" and you concentrate on this on this negative thought, you are more likely to become a nervous driver.

So you can see how what we think has a strong impact on what we feel. If you look upon important issues and occurrences in your life from a very negative perspective, then depression and anxiety are just around the corner. A cognitive behaviour therapist will teach clients ways in which they can examine their thinking and develop checks and balances in order to determine whether the thinking that leads to the negative feelings is warranted.