Esteban Tala
@estebantala
Joined Sep 1, 2022
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thequietlife.net/p/how-to-turn-small-talk-into-big-talk?pos=5&utm_source=%2Fbrowse%2Frecommendations&utm_medium=reader2
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arstechnica.com/science/2024/02/marijuana-use-linked-to-increased-risk-of-heart-attack-stroke-study-finds/
Mar 1, 2024
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theformula.substack.com/p/3-obtainable-goals-every-content
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Feb 27, 2024
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Jan 29, 2024
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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.
Once recognised, negative thoughts can be managed to reduce the impact on your emotional wellbeing. This in turn will break the cycle of negative thinking. By paying attention to your thoughts and interrogating their validity you can prevent cognitive distortions from skewing your beliefs and impacting your mental health.
Furthermore, research suggests that amongst university students, automatic thoughts were strongly correlated with self-esteem. 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.
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. Negativity bias, or the propensity to focus on negative experiences, can cloud your judgement. Decisions will appear more complex than they truly are, which will make it harder to know how to handle difficult situations.
Depression and negative cognitions have a reciprocal link in which one worsens the other, and vice versa. With both factors present, a vicious cycle is set in motion. Learning how to recognise and manage negative thoughts could therefore be the key to breaking this cycle of poor mental health, as well as helping you to avoid the pitfalls of negativity bias.
First you need to recognise negative thinking when it arises. Automatic negative thoughts often coexist with poor mental health. In some, they will have been present for many years, and recognising them can take some time. When a situation triggers a thought, pay attention to it. Negative thoughts might include: “I am going to fail at this interview”, “I will never lose weight”, “No one cares about me”, etc.
Did you notice how all of these are all-or-nothing, catastrophizing thoughts? Once you are confident in recognising negative thoughts when they arise, you can begin to interrogate your automatic thinking patterns. Rather than allowing a negative thought to control your emotions, ask yourself if the thought is truthful or helpful. If the negative thought provides no value, it’s time to shift your focus by rewiring your thought patterns.
It can be tempting to try to force positive thoughts in the hope that they might replace negative ones. However, managing negative thinking involves transmuting our thoughts rather than replacing them. This process requires you to change the way you respond to your negative thoughts, as well as controlling how much impact they have.
Being able to name your emotions and the resulting thought will help you to understand the relationship between external triggers and internal beliefs.
What am I worried about?
Is it likely that my worry will come true?
What is the worst that could happen if my worry did come true?
If my worry comes true, what is most likely to happen?
Despite my worry, am I likely to be ok in one week (or month, year, and so on)?