Negative thoughts influence your feelings and actions and can drive mental health symptoms. Automatic negative thoughts are those deeply-held, and often repeated, pessimistic thoughts that lead to intense emotions and wayward actions. Negative thoughts that accompany depression, anxiety, and frustration, and other emotional disorders are often irrational and exaggerated, making it difficult to change. Once you can recognize these thoughts for what they are, you can start analyzing them and change your thinking. In this lesson, examine the thoughts and beliefs that influence your feelings and actions. Learn to recognize, refute, and replace negative thoughts with positive substitutions; repeating the process as often as necessary. This will help you strengthen your commitment to staying emotionally healthy.