![]() To make things worse, a bias towards negative thinking will increase the likelihood that you’ll spend time ruminating on mistakes or dwelling on things that didn’t go as well as you had hoped. If you regularly experience negative thoughts, this cognitive distortion can sadly worsen an already poor mental health, leading to low mood, poor self-esteem, and anxiety. In his book Cognitive Therapy, Beck explained: “A central feature of the theory is that the content of a person’s thinking affects their mood.” It’s an endless loop: when you’re already feeling anxious or depressed, succumbing to negative thought patterns is unfortunately likely to worsen the way you feel.īeck’s work has been cited frequently in the last fifty years, including by psychologist Leigh Goggins and colleagues, who stated that “negative interpretative bias” could be a factor in maintaining the continuation of a depressed mood.įurthermore, research suggests that amongst university students, automatic thoughts were strongly correlated with self-esteem. In the 1970s, psychologist Aaron Beck theorised that negative thought patterns, which he labelled as “negative schemas”, reinforced negative emotions. This could include feeling stressed about work, worrying about your appearance, or questioning the loyalty of your friends. Conversely, if you’re anxious or unhappy, you may notice that negative thoughts start to emerge. In times of happiness, you may be more satisfied with your career progress, perceive your personal relationships as more secure, or have a better body image. When you’re feeling content, your thoughts tend to reflect this. Our thought processes are intimately connected to the way we feel. To avoid falling into that pattern, let’s explore the science of negative thinking and how you can develop a more mindful relationship to your thoughts. However, when negative thinking becomes the norm, it can contribute to mental health problems including social anxiety, low self-esteem, and even depression. After all, our thought processes are affected by what we experience around us, and it’s normal to experience both good and bad times. Of course, we all have negative thoughts from time to time.
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