Two Levels of Thought

The cognitive-behaviorist Aaron Beck is known as one of the fathers of cognitive therapy (as well as for wearing snazzy bow ties everywhere). He noted that there were two distinct kinds of thought. First there is automatic thought. This, as you would assume, are thoughts that happen involuntarily, and are difficult to control or regulate. The other kind of thoughts that he discussed were controlled thoughts. These are voluntary, controllable, and amendable. The automatic thoughts can be like inner voices, berating us, or supporting us. The controlled thoughts can then either agree with, expand upon, or dissent against the automatic voice. These two distinct types of thought result in an inner dialog. In essence, we talk to ourselves all the time in two pieces, automatic and controlled.

Sometimes people end up developing a recurring automatic thought that is negative or harmful. This can come in the form of denigrating thoughts about one’s self, or even paranoia. I am not talking about extreme cases of paranoid delusions, or auditory hallucinations, but the average inner monologue that we mostly all have, taking on a negative or harmful outlook. For instance, some have very negative automatic voices that say things like "I'm ugly," "I'm stupid," "I'm no good," and the like. Where I think the biggest issue comes in is when an individual's secondary voice, or controlled thought, does not dissent against the negative automatic voice. When the secondary voice concurs with the first, it creates an inner self agreement. It almost has the same affect as two separate people agreeing on something in that the agreement compounds upon itself. It becomes a repeating pattern of self abuse.

Now, I do not believe that automatic thoughts are completely unchangeable, just more difficult to change than the secondary thoughts. With thought stopping techniques, over time, one can most definitely change the automatic thoughts that may be troubling them. This reflects the concept of taking responsibility for your own well being and taking control of your life, which is one of my favorite ideas and a common theme in many of my favorite therapy theories. I am sure that I will eventually revisit this idea in the future in another respect.

In any regard, we can choose what to do in reaction to the initial voices, and that reaction is essentially our responsibility. Again, I am not talking about the few who are not in complete control of their faculties, but average people have little reason to deny culpability for their reactions. This idea, amongst others, put my personal philosophy at odds with that of the strict behaviorists (such as B.F. Skinner), who would contest that our actions are little more that conditioned responses, but I can live with not subscribing to that.

What do you think in regard to the two types of thought? Do you have any automatic thoughts that you actively dissent against, or have trouble tackling?

Make sure to come back next week when I continue my discussion on Albert Ellis’ nine personality traits, by covering “self-direction,” and the week after that, when I will be exploring some of my issues with behaviorists.