Negative thought patterns can be consuming and adversely impact our mental and emotional health. Negative thinking usually results in stress, anxiety, or depression which affects your personal and work life. The positive aspect of this is that you can manage, control, and change thinking habits that are negative into positive and constructive thinking. In this blog, we are going to outline approaches, the science, and skills to help you control and manage negative thinking.
What is Negative Thinking ?
Negative thinking is a term used for self-defeating, pessimistic, or anxious thinking that can alter your perception and impact your feelings. Negative thoughts often arise out of experience, are fear-based, or based on self-doubt. They can cause stress, anxiety, and low self-esteem. Common forms of negative thinking are overgeneralization, catastrophizing, and self-criticism. If negative thinking is not recognized and challenged it can impact decision-making, relationships, and overall well-being.Â
However, once we recognize negative thought patterns we can begin to change them. Once you know the extent to which negativity affects your mind, you can start the process of challenging the times in your life that frame your thoughts in a negative manner. From this point, you can gradually arrive at a more balanced and healthier way of thinking about life.
Why Do We Experience Negative Thinking?
Negative thinking is a natural psychological response that can arise from biological, emotional, and environmental variables. When we understand why we think negatively, we can manage our thoughts more effectively. Here are some common causes of negative thinking. Low self-esteem can manifest in people who constantly and unrelentingly criticize themselves and doubt personal judgments based on negative information or perceptions about their own experiences. Past painful experiences and failures create patterns of thought that can seem unbreakable, thus causing your negative thinking to continue.Â
Likewise, high levels of anxiety and stress can bring about thoughts of negativity. This creates a pattern that often means being confined to a cycle of needless worry, leading directly to negativity and pessimism. Toxic people and toxic environments can also contribute to a negative way of thinking. Cognitive biases may allow the brain to influence perception about reality, frequently leading to conclusions that not only distort reality but also undermine your inner self.
How Negative Thinking Affects Mental Health?
Ongoing negative thinking can greatly affect mental health, with more anxiety, more feelings of depression and losing self-worth. Negative thoughts can lay the foundation for worry and fear, which is a significant part of chronic anxiety; constant negativity can make one feel sad and hopeless, increasing the level of risk for depression, and then the ongoing negative self-talk, over time, can corrode confidence and self-esteem, which makes it difficult to grow.Â
This level of negativity causes some difficulty in making decisions that bring on a level of undecidedness, which will only be more disproportionate to the risk. If these experiences continue, you should reach out to an anxiety therapist where they will help in developing some coping skills, to distract or break out of negative thinking to a healthy state of mind.
Practical Strategies to Control Negative Thinking
1. Identify and Challenge Negative Thoughts
The initial step in managing negative thought processes is to become conscious of your patterns of thought and then try to be aware of their negative influence. You can do this by challenging those thoughts: consider if they are factual or simply a fabrication; if you are perhaps exaggerating those thoughts, and consider a more reasoned or positive point of view. You can also utilize a ‘Reality Check’ technique, which is comparing what you are thinking to evidence. Here is an example, consider thinking a thought that states, “I am going to fail?”
The next consideration is the fact you’ve been successful in similar situations many times before. One can also intentionally replace a negative statement with something positive. For example, consider changing the statement from “I can’t do this” to one that is more positive, (like) “I am learning and improving every day.” Over time, and by promoting positivity intentionally, it may help to rewire your brain to develop a more optimistic mindset.
2. Practice Mindfulness and Meditation
Mindfulness helps you stay in the moment and disengage from negativity. Specific meditation techniques like deep breathing and guided visualization may help relieve stress and anxiety. Many anxiety therapists in NYC use mindfulness based cognitive therapy (MBCT) to assist clients in responding to negative thoughts.
3. Surround Yourself with Positive Influences
Your mindset is impacted by those around you. Interact with people who are positive and supportive and make you feel better. Reduce your time with individuals that are negative and suck the energy out of you.Â
4. Limit Exposure to Negative Media
Exaggerated consumption of negative news and social media can perpetuate anxiety and fear. Set boundaries with media consumption and prioritize positive content.
5. Reframe Your Perspective
Shifting your mindset invites you to change the way you think about obstacles and interpret them in a healthier, positive light. Instead of seeing obstacles as failures, see them as opportunities for improvement. Shift the problem to a challenge, and think “This is an opportunity for me to learn and improve” instead of “This is really hard.” Think of solutions instead of worries, and develop a habit of gratitude for everything that is present in your life. Changing your lens of thinking decreases negativity and increases emotional resilience.
6. Seek Professional Help if Needed
If persistent negative thinking becomes troublesome enough to impact your day-to-day life, reaching out for professional assistance can be extremely helpful. Counselors/therapists can provide support in many different ways, such as navigating coping skills or cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), to tackle negative thought processes. Indications that you may need to reach out for personal support can come in the form of continuous feelings of sadness or hopelessness, poor concentration or indecision, heightened anxiety/barriers to your daily activities, and poor self-esteem. Mental health professionals can assist in teaching you to identify and reframe negative thinking and also offer personalized techniques to help promote a healthier more positive mindset.
Conclusion
Negative thinking is habitual but can be changed over time with practice and perseverance. Once you realize you are hooked on negative thinking patterns you begin a process of challenging whether that thought is true or true for you. You can replace negative thoughts with positive ones and you will develop a more positive mindset. If you struggle with negative habits, ask for help. There is anxiety treatment in NYC, including counseling for anxiety to help break down your negative thinking and begin the journey to enjoy a more positive life. A healthy mind leads to a healthy life. Take a step for yourself today to combat negative thinking and begin a process of developing a clearer, more positive mind for a healthier life.
