About US

Negative thoughts are experienced by anywhere from 80% to 99% of the non-clinical population, and have been heavily associated with the development of mental health disorders. Negative automatic thoughts can be defined as immediate negative evaluations that individuals make about themselves, their situation or their future, as well as interpreting information in an overly negative or pessimistic manner. 

Negative automatic thoughts lead individuals to negatively assess quality of life, which causes depressive levels to increase and are correlated with negative self esteem, the severity of depression, anxiety, hopelessness, and external locus of control. 

Many individuals find themselves caught in cycles of self-criticism, worst-case-scenario thinking, or harsh interpretations of everyday events without realizing it. The encouraging news is that these patterns can be recognized and changed. 

We help individuals learn how to recognize these thought patterns and respond to them more effectively. Through evidence-based tools drawn from psychological research, our programs teach practical skills for identifying automatic thoughts, questioning unhelpful interpretations, and developing more balanced ways of thinking. Rather than trying to eliminate negative thoughts altogether, the goal is to build awareness and flexibility—learning how to notice thoughts without automatically believing them or allowing them to dictate behavior. By strengthening these skills, individuals can reduce emotional distress, improve resilience, and cultivate a healthier relationship with their own minds.

Rumination is a common thinking pattern characterized by repeatedly dwelling on distress, sadness, past events, or perceived mistakes. Rather than helping individuals solve problems, rumination often involves getting stuck in cycles of overthinking, replaying conversations, questioning decisions, or repeatedly focusing on negative emotions and experiences.

Research has shown that rumination is associated with increased access to negative memories, prolonged negative mood states, and stronger emotional reactions to distressing events. It has been linked to anxiety, depression, binge eating, binge drinking, self-harm, insomnia, impulsive behavior, and other mental health difficulties. Studies have also found that individuals who engage in higher levels of rumination are at greater risk for developing future symptoms of anxiety and depression.

Many people find themselves replaying an uncomfortable interaction, wondering what they should have said differently, or repeatedly worrying about a problem without reaching a solution. Because rumination can feel productive or necessary, individuals often engage in it without realizing that it may be intensifying emotional distress rather than resolving it. The encouraging news is that rumination is a learned cognitive habit that can be recognized and changed.

We help individuals develop the skills needed to break free from unhelpful cycles of overthinking. Through evidence-based tools drawn from psychological research, our programs teach practical strategies for recognizing rumination, disengaging from repetitive negative thought loops, and shifting attention toward more constructive and flexible ways of responding to life's challenges. Rather than attempting to suppress thoughts or emotions, the goal is to build awareness and learn how to engage with difficult experiences in a healthier way. By strengthening these skills, individuals can reduce emotional distress, improve psychological well-being, and develop greater resilience in the face of life's challenges.

Catastrophizing is a thinking pattern in which individuals predict or assume that future events will turn out poorly, often imagining worst-case scenarios and responding to those predictions as though they are likely or inevitable. This cognitive habit is characterized by an exaggerated perception of threat and a tendency to focus on distressing possibilities, even when there is limited evidence that they will occur.

Research has linked catastrophizing to increased emotional distress, depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress symptoms, and chronic pain. Studies have found that individuals who engage in higher levels of catastrophizing report greater depressive symptoms and poorer psychological outcomes. Catastrophizing has also been shown to intensify the experience of chronic pain, contributing to increased distress and reduced coping ability. These findings suggest that the way we interpret and anticipate future events can have a powerful impact on both emotional and physical well-being.

Many people experience catastrophizing without realizing it. Thoughts such as "If I make a mistake, everything will fall apart," "This setback will ruin my future," or "Something bad is definitely going to happen" can feel like realistic predictions rather than cognitive habits. Over time, repeatedly focusing on worst-case outcomes can increase stress, reinforce anxiety, and make everyday challenges feel more overwhelming than they are.

We help individuals develop the metacognitive skills needed to recognize and interrupt catastrophizing before it escalates emotional distress. Through evidence-based tools drawn from psychological research, our programs teach practical strategies for identifying exaggerated threat predictions, evaluating thoughts more objectively, and responding to uncertainty with greater flexibility. Rather than trying to force positive thinking, the goal is to strengthen awareness of how thoughts influence emotions and behavior. By learning to step back from worst-case-scenario thinking, individuals can reduce anxiety, improve resilience, and build a healthier relationship with uncertainty and life's inevitable challenges.

Metacognition refers to the ability to become aware of and evaluate our own thinking while it is happening. In simple terms, it is the skill of "thinking about thinking." Metacognition allows individuals to recognize patterns in their thoughts, understand how those thoughts influence emotions and behavior, and make intentional decisions about how to respond. Without this awareness, people may automatically engage in habits such as rumination, catastrophizing, excessive worrying, or self-criticism without realizing it.

Research has shown that maladaptive metacognitive beliefs—such as believing that worrying is helpful, that thoughts are uncontrollable, or that negative thinking cannot be changed—are associated with increased symptoms of anxiety, depression, PTSD, and OCD. Studies have found that individuals with higher levels of maladaptive metacognitive beliefs experience greater emotional distress and are more vulnerable to developing and maintaining mental health difficulties. These beliefs can strengthen the relationship between emotional reactivity and anxiety, contribute to depressive symptoms, and increase feelings of uncertainty and helplessness.

Many people spend their lives responding to thoughts without ever examining them. They may believe that every thought deserves attention, that worrying is necessary to stay prepared, or that difficult emotions are caused entirely by external circumstances. Because these processes often occur automatically, individuals may not realize that their relationship with their thoughts is contributing to their distress. The encouraging news is that metacognitive awareness can be developed and strengthened with practice.

We help individuals build the skills necessary to recognize, understand, and effectively respond to their own thinking patterns. Through evidence-based tools drawn from psychological research, our programs teach practical strategies for increasing self-awareness, identifying unhelpful cognitive habits, and developing a healthier relationship with thoughts and emotions. Rather than focusing solely on changing what people think, our approach emphasizes learning how to relate to thoughts more effectively. By strengthening metacognitive awareness, individuals can reduce emotional distress, improve resilience, and gain greater control over the patterns that shape their daily lives.

You can learn to actively reinterpret situations in ways that reduce emotional intensity and promote more balanced thinking. Cognitive change strategies involve shifting how you understand an event rather than suppressing emotional responses. Techniques such as cognitive restructuring and cognitive reappraisal are associated with improved well-being, reduced emotional reactivity, and better social functioning.

These strategies help you replace automatic negative interpretations with more accurate or adaptive ones, which can significantly reduce emotional distress. However, research also shows that the effectiveness of cognitive change depends on context, suggesting that it works best when combined flexibly with acceptance-based strategies.

Goal: Modify interpretation of events to reduce emotional intensity.

Cognitive Reappraisal

(CBT)
Tools:

• Cognitive restructuring
• Evidence for/against analysis
• Alternative explanation generation
• Probability estimation
• Cost–benefit analysis
• Perspective taking

Meaning Reframing

(EFT, narrative therapies)
Tools:

• Re-authoring personal narratives
• Growth reframe
• Trauma meaning reconstruction

Perspective Shifting

(CBT, compassion therapies)
Tools:

• Third-person perspective
• Future self perspective
• Advice to a friend exercise

Values Reorientation

(ACT)
Tools:

• Values clarification
• Committed action planning
• Life compass exercises

(Cutuli, 2014; Ochsner & Gross, 2005; Troy et al., 2013; Wolgast et al., 2011)

You can develop the ability to notice and reflect on your own thoughts rather than automatically believing or reacting to them. This includes recognizing thoughts as mental events rather than facts and learning to observe patterns like rumination or worry without becoming fully absorbed in them. Higher metacognitive awareness is consistently associated with greater well-being, increased positive affect, and reduced symptoms of anxiety and depression.

Practices such as mindfulness and cognitive defusion are key tools in strengthening this skill. Cognitive defusion, in particular, involves stepping back from thoughts and viewing them with psychological distance, which has been shown to reduce distress, lower thought believability, and improve emotional flexibility. Strengthening metacognition allows you to interrupt maladaptive thought cycles and respond with greater intentionality.

Goal: Recognize thoughts and emotions as mental events rather than facts.

Cognitive Defusion

(Primarily ACT, MBCT, MCT)
Tools:

• “I’m having the thought that…” labeling
• Thought-watching / observer self practice
• Saying thoughts in a silly voice
• Repeating a word until it loses meaning
• Leaves on a stream visualization
• Mental noting (“thinking”, “planning”, “remembering”)
• Thought labeling (judgment, prediction, memory)
• Cognitive distancing (“step back and observe”)

Decentering / Self-as-Context

(ACT, MBCT)
Tools:

• Observer self meditation
• Sky and weather metaphor
• Container exercise (holding thoughts)
• Perspective shift (“watching the mind”)

Meta-awareness of Cognitive Processes

(MCT)
Tools:

• Detached mindfulness
• Attention training technique (ATT)
• Rumination recognition
• Metacognitive belief identification

(Brown & Ryan, 2003; Khoury et al., 2015; Killingsworth & Gilbert, 2010; Larsson et al., 2015; Wells, 2019).

It is so valuable to practice directing your attention intentionally rather than allowing it to be automatically captured by emotionally charged stimuli. Attentional control helps you decide what information to focus on and what to disengage from, which directly influences how emotions are experienced and processed. Stronger attentional control is associated with better emotional clarity, improved goal-directed behavior during distress, and faster emotional recovery.

Research also shows that training attention—such as through mindfulness or meditative practices—can improve emotional regulation and reduce depressive symptoms (). By strengthening attentional control, you create a more stable foundation for all other emotion regulation strategies.

Goal: Redirect or stabilize attention to reduce emotional escalation.

Attention Shifting

(CBT, DBT)
Tools:

• Grounding (5-4-3-2-1 sensory scan)
• External attention scanning
• Task engagement / behavioral activation
• Competing cognitive tasks (counting, puzzles)

Attention Anchoring

(Mindfulness traditions, MBCT)
Tools:

• Breath awareness
• Body scan
• Anchor objects (sound, breath, touch)
• Counting breaths

Attentional Broadening

(Positive psychology, EFT)
Tools:

• Gratitude scanning
• Positive memory recall
• Savoring practice
• Awe induction

Attentional Flexibility

(ACT, MCT)
Tools:

• Open monitoring meditation
• Switching between internal/external focus
• Attention training technique (ATT)

(Bardeen et al., 2014; Kahriz et al., 2019;  Morillas-Romera et al., 2015; O’Bryan et al., 2017).

It is so valuable to build the capacity to tolerate emotional discomfort and accept experiences that cannot be immediately changed. Rather than avoiding or suppressing distress, acceptance-based strategies emphasize allowing emotions to exist without judgment while reducing resistance to them. Higher distress tolerance is linked to lower emotional avoidance and better psychological functioning, while low distress tolerance is associated with anxiety, depression, and emotional reactivity.

Skills such as radical acceptance help you fully acknowledge reality as it is, which can reduce emotional suffering and increase the effectiveness of other coping strategies. Research also suggests that acceptance can support and enhance cognitive strategies like reappraisal, making it a foundational component of adaptive regulation.

Goal: Increase emotional tolerance when change or avoidance is impossible.

Emotional Acceptance

(ACT, MBCT)
Tools:

• Willingness exercises
• Urge surfing
• Emotional exposure
• Expansion / making room for emotions

Distress Tolerance

(DBT)
Tools:

• TIPP (temperature, intense exercise, paced breathing, progressive muscle relaxation)
• Self-soothing with senses
• Radical acceptance
• IMPROVE the moment

Experiential Allowing

(EFT, somatic approaches)
Tools:

• Felt sense tracking
• Emotion labeling
• Somatic experiencing micro-tracking

Compassion-Based Tolerance

(Compassion Focused Therapy)
Tools:

• Self-compassion break
• Compassionate imagery
• Loving-kindness meditation

(Buschmann et al., 2017; Naragon-Gainey, 2017; Segal et al., 2025).