Conquer Negative Thinking for Teens: A Workbook to Break the Nine Thought Habits That Are Holding You Back

Your thoughts aren’t facts, and they don’t have to control how you feel. Conquer Negative Thinking for Teens offers proven-effective cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) skills to help teens manage anxious thoughts and rumination, and break the cycle of worry, stress, and self-doubt.

Do you tend to expect the worst? Get stuck replaying conversations or mistakes? Assume you know what other people are thinking about you? Or spiral from one negative thought into another? You’re not alone. Negative thinking patterns can make everyday problems feel overwhelming and leave you feeling anxious, sad, angry, stressed, or stuck.

Written by a licensed psychologist and health journalist, this practical workbook teaches cognitive restructuring, a powerful CBT technique for recognizing, challenging, and reframing negative thoughts. You’ll learn how to spot the nine most common negative thinking habits (including the I can’t habit, the doom and gloom habit, the all or nothing habit, and the jumping to conclusions habit), and develop healthier, more flexible ways of thinking.

With this engaging workbook, you’ll learn how to:

• Recognize negative thinking patterns before they send you into a spiral
• Stop overthinking and manage anxious thoughts that fuel worry and stress
• Challenge unhelpful thoughts and replace them with more realistic, balanced ones
• Understand the connection between your thoughts, emotions, behaviors, and physical reactions
• Reframe negative thoughts using simple, proven CBT skills
• Build flexible thinking and an action plan for handling difficult situations with greater confidence

Each chapter offers easy-to-understand explanations, relatable real-life examples, and practical exercises to help you recognize what's happening when negative thoughts take over, and what you can do about it.

Your thoughts don't have to define who you are or determine how you experience life. By learning to recognize and reframe negative thinking, you can feel more in control, manage anxiety and worry, and see yourself and the world more clearly. Conquer Negative Thinking for Teens gives you practical tools to break the cycle of negative thinking and overthinking―and keep those thoughts from running the show.

This book has been selected as an Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies Self-Help Book Recommendation―an honor bestowed on outstanding self-help books that are consistent with cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) principles and that incorporate scientifically tested strategies for overcoming mental health difficulties. Used alone or in conjunction with therapy, our books offer powerful tools readers can use to jump-start changes in their lives.

Mary Karapetian Alvord, PhD, is a licensed psychologist with more than thirty-five years of clinical experience, and is director of Alvord, Baker & Associates. She specializes in treating children, adolescents, and adults using cognitive behavior therapies. A central focus is children and teens with depression, anxiety disorders, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and other emotional and behavioral regulation problems. She is adjunct associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at The George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences, and is a fellow of both the American Psychological Association and of the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies. She is coauthor of ResilienceBuilder Program and the audio recordings, Relaxation and Self-Regulation Techniques for Children and Teens and Relaxation and Wellness Techniques (for adults).

Anne McGrath, MA, is former executive editor of publications at U.S. News & World Report, where she wrote and edited on subjects from health and mental health to investing and education for more than thirty-five years. She was responsible for three of the publisher’s signature guidebooks: Best Graduate Schools, Best Colleges, and Best Hospitals. She holds her master’s in journalism from Syracuse University.