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How do you stop the habit of negative thinking?

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Sterre

MyPTSD Pro
Hi There,

Many of us suffer from negative thinking from time to time. It's aslo a big red flag for heading towards a depression - at least thats how it is in my case- .
For some the negative thinking patterns are so natural that it's hard to recognise it for what it is;
A negative thinking pattern.

Lately I have been fighting with myself a lot for having this negative view on myself and on the world in general.
When I wake up in the morning my first feeling is always a feeling of guilt, over some minor thing I havent done the day before.
During the day I start to collect and build up all the negative things about myself, so in the evening when going to bed, I cant sleep because I feel guilty and worthless.
It's such an automatic thing for me, that its really hard to stay aware of the fact that I'm always, 24/7 collecting my flaws.

When I try to counteract it, and try to stay aware of my thinking proces, it turns into a huge internal fight. It's exhausting and leads to feelings of agony and hopelesness.

To use an analogy: I want to plant a seed ( positve thinking) but I cannot find fruitfull ground, for the seed to grow.

What techniques or methods do you use to counteract this pattern?
How do you stop the habit of negative thinking?
 
Other forms of self harm take the focus away from negative thoughts but obviously that is destructive. The only positive thing that stops me thinking negatively is to go to dancing. I would suggest doing some form of exercise such as sport or running/walking.
 
I agree that physical activity is a good way to counteract negative thinking, and I try to do something active everyday. Endorphins are great natural antidepressants and you don't even need to exercise vigorously to feel better. Most of the time just walking while listening to music helps me.

Watching or listening to something funny, or just remembering funny things that have happened helps. I try to make sure that I laugh at something everyday!

Doing something to help someone else, especially someone I don't know makes me feel better about myself, and lifts me out of that self centred vortex that depression causes. Practice random acts of kindness to help yourself:).

I also make sure that I take vitamin d3 or get light from one of those SAD boxes around this time of year through the spring to fend off seasonal depression from the lack of sunlight.

Great thread, it's always so helpful to be reminded that I can help myself when depression starts nibbling away at me:).
 
Sterre, this mental experience sounds pretty hellish to me.

Someone recently said that I was finding myself in the position of merely reacting to the symptoms, and that there was no room for genuine awareness. This struck me as a helpful description of my mental experience. The rate, speed and consistency of the thoughts practically smother me. I can't help but breathe them in: hence the automatic reaction.

It's probably unfair to answer your question as the technique that comes to mind is not one that I am currently using - at least not with any degree of consistency. What I did was focus on my breathing. I suppose the notion of focus might be key because it moved my internal eye, my fixated eye away from the negative thinking and on to something more steady and calming. I guess the focus doesn't need to be on the breath, but on anything that has those qualities of steadiness and calm. I repeatedly brought the focus back when it was inevitably distracted by other things. This seemed to be a steadying activity, calming the rush of thoughts.

And there was something else. When interrupted by the thoughts, I would view them as just thoughts. Just mental activity. Because as you say they're just patterns; self-perpetuating patterns. They're not doing anything purposeful; not when they occur in this manner. They're not significant in any way, they're simply reinforcing their own existence. The position I would take was one of non-judgement (which would ultimately give rise to a feeling of compassion); noticing the existence of the thought, but not evaluating it, not turning it over in my mind, not agreeing with it or disagreeing with it; not engaging with it other than to notice it.

This way of relating to the negative thinking seemed to become a practice, or a habit, that was an alternative to the habit of perpetual negative thinking. And in time created a gentler head space. Maybe this could be the fruitful ground for seeds to grow.

I've known physical exercise to help; and there's some interesting advice in the other posts that are helpful reminders to me. Whatever you do, I hope you are able to discover something that brings some peace to your experience :).
 
So at first this may sound a bit silly, but it has worked for me to overcome some limiting beliefs, and words or phrases that were somehow stuck in my head. (Either said by abuser or simply a negative view I had internalized.)

Take the negative idea and create a little mantra that contradicts it, saying something that may have a similar sound but a positive meaning. This was important for me because the phrase would get stuck in my head. So to counteract it, I repeated a different one throughout the day. Sometimes I'd make them rhyme other times not.

For example: you failed, you're a failure --> its not a fail, its just a fall. get back up, and stand tall.

Try it, maybe it will help you too. When that's not doing the trick, I simply ask for help in changing my negative thoughts. Pray for self acceptance. And don't forget to count at least one good thing you did do, which was notice that you deserved to think better about yourself and needed to change your negative thinking pattern. :)
 
For me, it started by simply being able to recognize when my thoughts are spiraling out of control in the negative direction. Many a therapist has remarked about how my mind automatically gravitates toward the negative. I use a number of CBT skills including challenging cognitive distortions to recognize that these negative thoughts arent accurate. It was a struggle for a long time, but now I am able to recognize these negative thought patterns much easier, and say to myself "this is my PTSD talking" or simply recognize that the negative thoughts are simply a reflection of me being in a bad place, and not how I truly feel
 
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I am able to recognize these negative thought patterns much easier, and say to myself "this is my PTSD talking" or simply recognize that the negative thoughts are simply a reflection of me being in a bad place, and not how I truly feel

Very wise words, thank you!
 
<----See, my avatar? Gloomy donkey is my personality. I don't know if I could change it. It is my Dysthymia talking, I know that much. Let me know if you find a remedy.
 
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