{"id":31540,"date":"2021-08-19T13:57:23","date_gmt":"2021-08-19T17:57:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/screening.mhanational.org\/?post_type=article&p=31540"},"modified":"2025-07-02T16:53:23","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T20:53:23","slug":"thinking-traps-how-can-i-deal-with-negative-thoughts","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/screening.mhanational.org\/es\/content\/thinking-traps-how-can-i-deal-with-negative-thoughts\/","title":{"rendered":"Trampas mentales: \u00bfC\u00f3mo puedo lidiar con los pensamientos negativos?"},"content":{"rendered":"

What do you do when you feel \u201cstuck\u201d? When you see the world through a negative lens, it can feel like everything is terrible and there\u2019s no way out. Life is hard, and you can\u2019t think your way out of every problem\u2014but you puede<\/em> learn to think more clearly and positively. And that makes it much easier to enjoy life and find solutions to your problems!<\/p>\n

How do our thoughts get stuck in the first place?<\/h2>\n

The world is a complicated place. Our lives are always changing. We encounter new situations to deal with\u2014taxes, dating, school, driving\u2026the list goes on and on. It\u2019s all a lot to process, and our brains are doing the best they can!<\/p>\n

Our brains take a lot of shortcuts. Most of the time, our mental shortcuts do a good job of helping us cope with life without getting overwhelmed by all the details. In fact, they work so well that we usually don\u2019t even notice them.<\/p>\n

But sometimes, we get stuck. The shortcuts that used to help us start to hold us back. We start to feel trapped in our negative thinking. We might feel anxious<\/a> o deprimido<\/a>, or have trouble solving our problems.<\/p>\n

One example of a mental shortcut is overgeneralizing<\/strong>. Your brain relies on past experience to predict the future. If you failed at something on your first try, you might automatically assume that you will never<\/em> succeed. The truth is that most of the time, we suck at new things the first time we try them. Trying again anyway is how we experience the satisfaction and pride that come from learning and growing\u2014but it\u2019s hard to remember that when your brain is trying to protect you from being disappointed or embarrassed.<\/p>\n

Breaking free of thinking traps<\/h2>\n

Each of us is unique, and so are our thoughts. But people do tend to get stuck in similar patterns of thinking. These patterns are called trampas mentales<\/strong>. Everyone gets caught in these traps sometimes\u2014but with some help, you can learn to break free of them!<\/p>\n

(If you\u2019ve ever taken a psychology class, you may have learned about \u201ccognitive distortions\u201d. Counselors in the criminal justice system often talk about \u201cthinking errors\u201d. Some people like to call them \u201cautomatic negative thoughts\u201d, or ANTs. These are all ways of saying the same thing!)<\/em><\/p>\n

Breaking free of thinking traps is all about replanteamiento<\/strong> your thoughts. When you reframe a thought, you look for new ways to think about the thing that\u2019s bothering you. It takes practice to learn how to reframe your thoughts. But with time, you can learn to not only think<\/em> more positively, but to actually change the things you believe<\/em> about yourself.<\/p>\n

While you\u2019re learning to reframe your thoughts, keep a couple things in mind:<\/p>\n