Squishing Thoughts Like Bugs

I read on site somewhere about a cognitive technique where the guy said he dealt with bad thoughts by squishing them like bugs, grabbing them right out of the air like flies and crushing them in his hands or even hurling them to the ground and stomping on them. This has probably been the most effective technique for me of the ones I have tried through the course of my recent slump. The problems are all upstairs, in your own head, and if the thought is distorted, it can be dangerous and should be stopped in its tracks. What have I gained from years of wallowing in pain? Nothing. Worse than nothing, I have made it a habit, with a perverse reward structure of some kind, like the almost-good part of the ache from listening to nostalgic music. Remember kids, the "alg" part of that word is the word for pain in Greek.