Why do we have these thoughts, like driving down the road and just feel like swearing or being High up and feel like jumping down
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Psychologist here:
On cognitive therapy we call them automatic thoughts, they are intimately related to our feelings and behavior and they come as a symptom of our core beliefs, that were developed with time and experiences we had (and guess what? Are intimately linked to our feelings and behavior as well!).
It is NORMAL to have automatic thoughts, everyone has them, problem is, as you said, when they are a reflection of a view about yourself/the world that doesn’t match, so your core beliefs start getting a bit off with the reality. Basically, the way you learned to react/deal with certain situations stopped being appropriate for the present time of your life.
On cognitive therapy, we will address these thoughts very briefly, bc they are only A SYMPTOM of a problem, so our focus will be on solving cognitive dissonances you have and work on adaptative responses to the situations where you have these thoughts. I won’t extend myself more, but if you want to know more about it, I recommend you to read Aaron Beck and his daughter, Judith Beck. They are the biggest references on this area!
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