If you feel depressed, you already know that you have to fight your own mind sometimes. You get into a cycle of negative thoughts, and then you are stuck and feel badly. To feel better, you have to stop this stream of negative thoughts and replace them with positive thoughts. This article can give you some information to help you with that.
How to Stop Negative Thoughts- Depression
For starters, you need to understand what a negative thought is. Everyone has negative thoughts every now and then, but for a depressed person, the negative thoughts are usually focused on the self. You may find yourself thinking that you are no good. You might think you are a failure. You might start reliving upsetting moments from your past. When you allow your mind to dwell in those thoughts, you feel depressed.
A good idea might be to keep a journal about your feelings. A journal can help you see how far you have come, for one thing. You can look back at past problems and realize that they weren’t as bad as they seemed at the time. You can find out what triggers your bad thoughts, and then you can start addressing that. You can even learn to start diverting yourself before the really bad thoughts kick in.
You have to learn to start thinking more positively, and that can be done with the help of other people. A therapist can help you identify good thoughts for you to focus on, for example. He can help you learn techniques to cause you to re-examine your thoughts. Sometimes you can also get a good friend to help you think better thoughts. Supportive people in your life who are mentally well can be good role models and help you learn how to speak to yourself like someone you trust.
When you feel especially bad about what is going on in your life, talk to yourself as you would talk to someone you love. We tend to be harsher on ourselves than other people are, and if you make the decision to talk to yourself in a gentle way, that will help you to start feeling better. Everyone else may be against you, but if you are against yourself, that is not going to help your depression. Talk to yourself the way you would talk to someone you care about. After all, you should be the best friend you have.
How to Stop Negative Thinking & Overcome Negative Thoughts
Consider meditation. While meditation sometimes has a reputation of being a spiritual practice tied to some Eastern religions, the truth is that meditation has actually been proven to alleviate depression in some cases. That is primarily because meditation seeks to stop negative thoughts. Meditation is usually concerned on stopping thought altogether, or focusing on a mantra. Give your mind a mini-vacation from those negative thoughts and you may discover you no longer have them after a while.
One of the hallmark symptoms of depression is having negative thoughts. If you are able to start controlling these thoughts, you are going to slowly feel better and be on the path to ending your depression.