ABSTRACT
Beck’s delineation of the role of thinking in the generation of psychological problems began with his discovery of ‘automatic thoughts’. These types of thoughts are fleeting and seem to ‘come from nowhere’ but seem to have a disturbing effect on the person who thinks them. Most people have negative automatic thoughts at least sometimes but for clients vulnerable to psychological difficulties, they become pervasive and therefore may play a role in the maintenance of, for example, anxiety or depression. Clients however may experience the negative feelings that are associated with these thoughts without being immediately aware of the presence and influence of negative automatic thoughts. The problems associated with the difficulty that clients may have in recognizing negative thoughts are further discussed in the Practice section of the book.
