The answer to that is a definite ‘yes’!

Many of us feel overwhelmed by our negative thoughts and relentless overthinking. These thoughts have usually been conditioned by our families or by traumatic experiences at school: “I am a horrible person; I can’t do anything right; I’m so ugly”. Once others have said these words to us a few times, our brain takes over and we continue to say these things to ourselves over and over again. That is, our brain becomes habituated to these thoughts. We no longer need others to criticise us, because we have become expert at doing this to ourselves. Mostly we are not even conscious of how often we do criticise ourselves — that is why these thoughts are called Automatic Negative Thoughts. We have internalised a message that was once given to us and it has now become a habit for our brain.

Every time our brains sense the potential for danger — for example, when trying something new, when going on a blind date or when competing in a sports event — the brain will often turbo-charge the self-flagellating phrases we learned many years ago in the hopes of preventing us from doing the activity that the brain fears may cause us danger. That’s right! Even though doing new activities and challenging ourselves is generally a healthy thing to do, the subconscious part of ourselves can perceive the ‘unknown’ as a threat to our safety and will often try to stop us by overthinking it.

These obsessive negative thoughts are a form of anxiety, and anxiety has a terrible habit of making our lives smaller.

If I tell myself I’m ugly, then I don’t have to go on a date and risk being rejected. If I tell myself I’ll never be good at competing, then I don’t have to enter the competition and risk losing. When our Automatic Negative Thoughts become bad enough that we lose the motivation for trying anything new, then an intervention is required.

The good news is neurofeedback is an intervention that can help with overthinking and Automatic Negative Thoughts. Neurofeedback trains the brain to be calmer and come into the present moment. In the present moment we realise there is usually no real danger present. So with neurofeedback training, the brain wakes up and says, “Wait a minute, why am I attacking myself with old programming that is only making me feel miserable and is no longer serving me?”

People who train with neurofeedback report a considerable drop in negative thinking. In moments when their self-criticism returns, they become aware of it more quickly. Often, just by being aware of it and placing their attention on something more enjoyable, the self-criticism dissolves. The brain that trains with neurofeedback learns that it doesn’t want to attack itself because it creates more pain and stress — it would much rather be peaceful and happy.