The effect of automatic thought levels of the middle age group on depression, anxiety, positive-negative emotions

Cognitive behavioral therapies are psychotherapies that are becoming popular in the field of mental health today. The most important element of this therapeutic approach, which is used in the treatment of psychopathological disorders by considering nonfunctional thoughts in (B) through the model known as the ABC model, is considered. Automatic thoughts have an important place in therapy among other thought processes such as core beliefs, irrational beliefs. The main purpose of this research is to examine whether the automatic thoughts of individuals in the middle age group has an effect on anxiety, depression and positive-negative emotions. Determining whether automatic thoughts, depression, anxiety, and positive-negative emotions differ according to socio-demographic variables such as gender, age, marital status, etc. constitute the sub-objectives of the research. This research was designed to test the effect of automatic thoughts structures of individuals on depression, anxiety and positive-negative emotions on the middle-age group and to provide a literary contribution in scientific sense, with confirming current findings in the literature. 247 participants from 30 to 50 years of age living in the province of Denizli who selected the sampling of the researcher arranged according to the relational screening model were selected by random sampling method. The "Demographic Information Form" to determine the demographic characteristics of the sample, "Automatic Thought Scale" to determine the automatic thought levels, "Beck Depression Inventory" to determine the depression levels, "Beck Anxiety Scale" to determine anxiety levels, Positive-Negative Emotion Scale "to determine the levels of positive and negative emotion were used as participant data collection tools. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), Pearson Correlation Analysis, Simple Linear Regression Analysis, Independent Group t-Test were used in the analysis of the data. According to the analysis results; the anxiety level of women is higher than men when the gender variable is examined; when the age variable is examined, the negative effect decreases as age increases; when the marital status variable is examined, the automatic thoughts of the single individuals are higher than the married individuals is concluded. Another important finding of the study was that automatic thoughts was a significant predictor of depression, anxiety, positive and negative emotions. The findings are thought to play an important role in the necessary preventive and treatment planning. Key words: Automatic Thoughts, Depression, Anxiety, Positive and Negative Emotions, Middle Age Group