Cognitive symptoms of anxiety: thoughts and beliefs

Anxiety not only manifests itself physically and behaviorally, but also has a fundamental cognitive component, which includes the thoughts, beliefs, interpretations, and biases that characterize the anxious experience.

These mental processes play a crucial role in both the generation and maintenance of anxiety.

Negative Automatic Thoughts

People with anxiety often experience a flow of negative automatic thoughts, which are ideas or images that arise spontaneously and tend to be catastrophic, self-critical, or threat-focused.

These thoughts are often not the result of conscious reflection, but appear quickly and involuntarily.

Examples include anticipating the worst possible outcome ("I'm sure I'll fail the exam and ruin my future"), doubting one's own abilities ("I'm not capable of doing this"), or interpreting ambiguous situations as dangerous ("If my heart beats fast, it means something bad is going to happen to me") pass).

Cognitive Distortions

Anxious thoughts are often characterized by cognitive distortions, which are irrational or biased thinking patterns that don't fit objective reality.

Some common distortions in anxiety include:

• Catastrophizing: Always expecting the worst possible outcome.

• Overgeneralization: Drawing sweeping negative conclusions from a single event.

• Mental Filter: Selectively focusing on the negative aspects of a situation and ignoring the positive ones.

• Dichotomous (All or Nothing) Thinking: Seeing things in absolute terms, without nuance.

• Reading the Thinking: Assuming you know what others are thinking, usually negatively.

• Personalization: Attributing responsibility for negative events without evidence.

These distortions fuel anxiety by creating a view of the world and yourself as inherently threatening or deficient.

Underlying Beliefs and Dysfunctional Schemas

Beyond automatic thoughts, anxiety may be sustained by deeper underlying beliefs or dysfunctional schemas about yourself, others, and the world.

These beliefs, often formed from early experiences,They act as filters through which reality is interpreted.

For example, a core belief such as "I am vulnerable" or "the world is a dangerous place" may predispose a person to interpret a wide range of situations as threatening and to react with anxiety.

Cognitive-behavioral therapy focuses on identifying and modifying these automatic thoughts, cognitive distortions, and underlying beliefs to reduce anxiety.