We tend to seek simplicity. Given the option, we want straightforward answers to our questions, laying everything out in black and white. You should buy Product A, because it’s superior to Product B in every way. And it’s half the price too. Of course, in the real world, we’re met with many shades of gray. One thing doesn’t necessarily cause another thing; the relationship is often much more complex than that. And, there’s usually (at least) one other factor you might have overlooked. That’s how it works with the cognitive triad.

Or rather, the cognitive triads. Each factor affects the others, coming together to form the outward whole we perceive and experience. Let’s explore two such frameworks.

Beck’s Cognitive Triad of Depression

Beck's Cognitive Triad

To the best of my recollection, I first learned about Aaron T. Beck and his cognitive triad during my university days. I was a psychology major, after all. Beck was the psychiatrist responsible for developing cognitive therapy (CT) in the 1960s. And he proposed this cognitive triad (also called the negative triad) in 1976. It consists of three parts:

  • Negative views about the world
  • Negative views about the future
  • Negative views about yourself

Many diagrams that illustrate this concept tend to draw them with one-way arrows, leading from the world to the future to yourself and then back to the world. Realistically, I feel like these relationships go in both directions. When we think or talk about depression (or sing about it), we oftentimes see elements of all three coming into play.

Remember that the three corners of the cognitive triad do not necessarily offer an accurate portrayal of reality. Instead, it’s about the negative views of these elements that the person has. They think that nobody cares (when some people surely do). They think they’re not good at doing anything (when other people may disagree).

My guiding words for 2019 reflect this notion of distorted thinking. While I’m not totally convinced it’s working, I have been paying more attention to automatic thoughts and other cognitive biases.

The Cognitive Triangle of Experience

Cognitive Triad: Thoughts, Feelings and Behavior

I haven’t been checking in with the Woebot mobile app as often as I did in the beginning. That said, the time I spend with the app has been worthwhile and it’s helped to illuminate some of my blind spots. Deceptively simple insights can radically change how you think about yourself and how you choose to interact with the world. One such example is the cognitive triad above, also known as a cognitive triangle. It consists of:

  • Thoughts
  • Feelings
  • Behavior

When you bring these three elements together, you get some sense of your overall experience of the world from a subjective perspective. And indeed, all three parts of intricately intertwined and can radically affect one another too. Some relationships make more intuitive sense than others.

Let’s take the above illustration as an example. Because I think that nothing I do matters (thoughts), I then choose not to start a new project (behavior). I might choose not to write a book or start a YouTube channel. Why bother if nothing I do matters anyway, right? And then, because I didn’t start the new project, this feeds further into feelings of hopelessness and despair. And those negative feelings lead right back to negative thoughts. In much the same way, you can follow this interaction in the reverse direction too.

You know how you’re sometimes told to “think happy thoughts” and you’ll feel better? Or how, if you smile or laugh, even if you don’t really feel like doing it, your mood can improve? That’s how this cognitive triad works.

Taking the Right Angle

I wish I had all the answers, I really do. That’d probably work wonders on my burgeoning anxiety. Of course, intellectually, I know that it’s impossible to have all the answers, especially when there are no answers to so many questions. But, through constructs like Beck’s cognitive triad and the cognitive triangle, we can frame a better understanding of ourselves, the world, and the people around us. The first step is recognition and acknowledgement. Where we go from there is an entirely different question.