Solution-focused vs. problem-focused thinking
Greetings Hivers readers, in this opportunity I share with you some reflections about ways of thinking that affect the way we face life situations.
¿Qué es el pensamiento?
What is thinking?
We can say that thought is a psychological process, both automatic and voluntary, that occurs consciously or unconsciously, through which we create or recreate past, present or future experiences. When we say that it is voluntary or automatic we mean that we may or may not have control over what we think. Likewise, when we speak of conscious or unconscious we allude to the fact that many times we do not know where X thought comes from, or how we arrive at that thought, what produced it.
Specifically, thought is a process in which images, verbalizations, sensations, sounds, smells are present. That is to say, it has to do with what we capture with our senses and with the meanings we give to what we perceive, also with our beliefs, prejudices, opinions and ideas about the things that occur outside or inside our organism.
All these things come together at a given moment giving a certain meaning to what we are recreating inside our minds. In such a way that in the face of an event we position ourselves assertively or propositively, or, on the contrary, we focus from the problematic, from the complaint, from the negative.
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Solution-focused thinking is creative, planned. It can be toxic when it is individualistic at the expense of the collective or the other.
Problem-focused or difficulty-focused thinking is essentially toxic, negativistic and pessimistic thinking. It transforms into the positive when it transcends into solutions.
An example of both types of thoughts can be seen in the following example: let's imagine that two men, Peter and John, had an accident with their vehicles, both had the same model of vehicle, the same brand and they had just bought them. They crashed and the cars were left unserviceable. Both came out with a few scratches. When Pedro saw his car completely useless he said: what bad luck I have, I'm salty, how am I going to get to work now. I am left without a car. Juan, when he saw everything that had happened to him, said: wow, how lucky I am, I got out of that mess alive. I was born again.
These thoughts, problem-centered or solution-centered, are crystallized in principle according to the socialization we have since our early childhood and adolescence and also by the experiences we have been having throughout our lives. In many cases, personality styles are formed, so that in any situation, proactive or negative thoughts are automatically generated regardless of the type of situation that is being experienced.
In future posts I will address how we can identify what kind of thoughts we have and how to take control of these thoughts.
Here are some links if you want to delve deeper into the topics discussed here
Neuropsicología del pensamiento
Pensamiento centrado en la vida (amor) es la base de la salud
Problem vs. Solution Focused Thinking
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Las imágenes son de mi propiedad. Fueron editadas con GIMP y Postimages
Los separadores son diseño propio. Editados con Power Point, GIMP y Postimages
Gracias por haber leído estas reflexiones.*