Powerful Questions to Disrupt Negative Thinking Patterns 1. Am I 100% positive this is true? 2. Is there evidence that contradicts my thought? 3. Am I trying to interpret this situation without all the evidence? 4. Will this matter 5 minutes from now, 5 days from now, 5 years from now? 5. What would I tell a friend who was in this same situation? 6. How can I look at this situation differently? 7. How can I look at the situation in a positive way? 8. Is this thought helpful to me, how so? 9. Is there anything I can do about this? 10. Has this happened before? 11. If I am to think logically, what’s the worst that can happen? 12. Is this situation in my control? 13. Can my spiritual beliefs help me with this? 14. Will thinking this way help me become my best self? 15. What can I learn from this situation for next time? 16. Am I considering my strengths or only focusing on my weakness

The goal is to be able to live with uncertainty and be able to tolerate the feelings that come with that. Trying to figure out if something is 100% true is trying to gain absolute certainty and that isn’t possible. I can see how this post can be helpful to someone without ocd but I’m not sure if some of these things are too helpful you know?

@hcs @BelieveInYou definitely open to hearing what you think about this :)

The point lies itself in the question. Trying to figure out if something is 100% true is definitely not possible, but we are using the question against the negative pattern only to break it, and not inwards to find what is and isn't 100% true. We are challenging the negative thought patterns to get unstuck, not using the question separately as to find the meaning of it.

@BelieveInYou I see what you’re saying and I believe that can be useful for someone without ocd. People with ocd are encouraged to not engage with their thoughts so trying to challenge the thought wouldn’t be helpful. Additionally ocd does not respond to logic so questioning whether a thinking pattern is true or not might not be effective in that scenario. This is what I’m getting from what I’ve learned and just wanted to point that out because it could possibly lead someone down the wrong path. As always consult a professional first especially someone educated about ocd ! Thank you for taking the time to respond to me

@BelieveInYou If you are just talking about negative thinking patterns in general I agree with you, but dealing with ocd thoughts is a different ball game

@hcs I'm talking about negative thinking patterns only, as the first line of my post clearly states. I know that we aren't supposed to challenge our intrusive thoughts. This post was being clearly made to benefit someone with or without OCD. We both are considering to help someone. This practice comes from CBT only, based on thinking traps. We are not challenging the though but the point of view ad how we are viewing it. I appreciate your concern for others.

@BelieveInYou I know the intention behind the post was to help someone. I think I took negative thinking patterns and assumed you were talking about ocd thoughts along with that. Thanks for clarifying