Part 1: Understand That Depression Affects Your Thinkingĭepression twists and narrows our view of the world, skewing our thoughts toward more negative judgements and interpretations. If we notice we’re having a negative thought about ourselves, one quick yet powerful trick is to ask, “Would I say these things to a friend?” The answer is almost always “no.” If we wouldn’t talk to someone we care about like that, we shouldn’t talk to ourselves that way either.įor more info on factors that can contribute to depression, see our Common Stressors tab on our Stress Management page. Put These Strategies To Work In Different Ways Explore Strategies To Manage Negative Thoughts Understand That Depression Affects Your Thinking But with practice, it is possible to change the negative thoughts that pop up in our heads automatically, which over time will also help lift our mood.īelow, we’ve laid out a few tactics for changing negative thoughts in order to fight depression. Depression tends to dampen both our thoughts and our mood, which can create a domino effect of negativity. Our thoughts and mood are closely related and can easily influence one another. This can lead us to pull away from the things we enjoy, becoming more withdrawn and detached from friends, family, and the world around us. Just like memorizing something for a test, when we think about something repeatedly, we can recall the thoughts even faster.Īs these thoughts become more automatic, we may start believing them to be true but when it comes to depressed thoughts, they only represent a very narrow and distorted view of reality. The more we ruminate on these thoughts, the more negative they get. Negative thoughts often creep in slowly, so we may not even realize how skewed our perspective has become. These thoughts can sap our energy and reduce our ability to perform everyday tasks. doi:10.1016/j.jpsychores.2016.11.In addition to dragging down our mood, depression can cloud our thinking, invading our minds with negative thoughts and worst-case scenarios. The association of perseverative negative thinking with depression, anxiety and emotional distress in people with long term conditions: A systematic review. Trick L, Watkins E, Windeatt S, Dickens C. The negativity bias, revisited: Evidence from neuroscience measures and an individual differences approach. Positive activities as protective factors against mental health conditions. Social mishap exposures for social anxiety disorder: An important treatment ingredient. Guilford Press 2016.įang A, Sawyer AT, Asnaani A, Hofmann S. Mind over Mood: Change How You Feel by Changing the Way You Think. 2nd ed. Psychopathology and thought suppression: A quantitative review. The impact of cognitive restructuring and mindfulness strategies on postevent processing and affect in social anxiety disorder. Shikatani B, Antony MM, Kuo JR, Cassin SE. The Wiley Handbook of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. Does mindfulness attenuate thoughts emphasizing negativity, but not positivity?. Mindfulness-based interventions in counseling. It often leads people to blame themselves for things they have no control over.īrown AP, Marquis A, Guiffrida DA. Personalization and blame: This thought pattern involves taking things personally, even when they are not personal.This can escalate negative feelings and increase anxiety. For example, if you are feeling nervous, emotional reasoning would lead you to conclude that you must be in danger. Emotional reasoning: This involves assuming that something is true based on your emotional response to it.Such statements are often unrealistic and cause people to feel defeated and pessimistic about their ability to succeed. "Should" statements: Thinking marked by "should" statements contribute to a negative perspective by only thinking in terms of what you "ought" to be doing.Someone who labels themselves as "bad at math," for example, will often feel negative about activities that involve that skill. Labeling: When people label themselves in a negative way, it affects how they feel about themselves in different contexts.This can make negative experiences seem unavoidable and contribute to feelings of anxiety. Overgeneralization: This pattern is marked by a tendency to apply what happened in one experience to all future experiences.Catastrophizing: This pattern of negative thinking is characterized by always assuming that the worst possible outcome will happen without considering more likely and realistic possibilities.Jumping to conclusions: This distortion involves making assumptions about what others are thinking or making negative assumptions about how events will turn out.
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