Depression and negative thinking – when your thinking gets you down!

  

We all have negative thoughts sometimes.  

These dark thoughts (known as automatic negative thoughts) just come into our heads and, most of the time, we can just throw them off.

At other times they just overwhelm us.  This is so when we are depressed. But sadly these negative thoughts can actually make us depressed. 

When we get into the habit of constantly chastising ourselves and telling ourselves we are no good and we are worthless, the feelings we have in response can send us spiralling down.  


These thoughts seem to feed upon each other, so deeper and deeper we go!   Thoughts like these can send us spiralling down into depression.

This concept is the guiding principle behind cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT), a type of psychotherapy which was developed by Aaron T. Beck in the 1960s

If we think something often enough, we begin to believe it's true!  Then our feelings start to match what we think about ourselves.

How do we raise ourselves back up again?

Well to conquer this, we need to stop those automatic negative thoughts.  We can stop them and replace them with more positive, truthful ones.

If we get in there and nip these thoughts in the bud, we can halt depression before it even starts.

If you would like to know a little more about thinking positively and how to change your thinking, have a look at this video!