When you're struggling with your mental health, your entire outlook on life can change. Your thought patterns become cyclical and often deeply discouraging. Emotions like worry or sadness can take over your mind, preventing you from enjoying your normal activities. You begin to believe the worst about yourself, your circumstances, and everyone around you.
Even if your symptoms aren't that severe, negative beliefs can still do a number on your overall well-being. When you don't have faith in yourself, you're not motivated to go after the things you want. Negative beliefs can hold you back from being the fullest, most capable version of yourself. Here's how to address them before they cause true, lasting damage.
Seek Outside Support
If you have serious symptoms or warning signs of depression, it's important to see outside help ASAP. Symptoms can include feeling frequently angry or irritable, having trouble sleeping or concentrating, or losing or gaining weight unexpectedly. Depression can escalate and become dangerous, so when in doubt, it's always a good idea to speak to a professional.
Getting support for depression and other mental health issues can include a number of different treatment options and modalities. You might benefit from the structure of group therapy, or you may prefer one-on-one counseling. Some people do well speaking to a clergy person, social worker, or other licensed counselor. Others need the expertise of a clinical psychologist or psychiatrist.
It's important to understand the difference between these types of professionals, as some may not be appropriate for your situation. For instance, if you need a diagnosis and medication, only a psychiatrist or other licensed medical professional can write a prescription. And different therapists offer different styles of talk therapy and other nonmedical treatments.
In more serious cases, you could benefit from intensive support, like going rehab for depression or accessing other inpatient treatments. If your negative beliefs are severely impacting your quality of life, you may need to seek out these kinds of help. For other mental health issues, like anxiety and PTSD, it's important to treat severe symptoms right away.
Recognize and Challenge Negative Thoughts
Once you've ruled out or treated more serious mental health disorders, there are other steps you can take to squelch your negative beliefs. These often start with noticing your negative thought patterns and taking steps to challenge their validity against reality. You can't will negative thoughts away, but with practice, you can train many of them out of your system.
Noticing and challenging negative thoughts is an important component of many therapy modalities, including cognitive behavioral therapy and dialectical behavioral therapy. But you can incorporate this practice into your life even if you're not seeing a therapist. With time, a few simple steps can allow you to teach your brain to think more positively.
First, begin by paying close attention to your thoughts, both negative and positive. You can get better at this through developing a regular meditation practice, but meditation isn't necessary for challenging negative beliefs. Simply notice your negative thoughts each time they arise and write them down so you can detect any regular patterns.
Next, incorporate techniques to help you question or test the accuracy of your thoughts. This can enable you to understand and process the fact that many of your negative thoughts just aren't true. The U.K.'s National Health Service provides a useful resource page on reframing negative thoughts. You can also Google more in-depth worksheets and question lists.
Treat Physical Health to Improve Your Mental Health
Another way to address your negative beliefs is to take away some of their power, starting with improving your physical health. A nutritious diet and regular exercise can make a huge difference in your overall sense of happiness and well-being. In turn, this contentment can make it harder for negative thoughts and beliefs to have much of an impact.
Regular exercise boosts endorphins and serotonin, brain chemicals that can make you happier. When you're in a good mood, even if you have negative thoughts, they don't feel as dramatic. Exercising in moments when you feel bad can help make those negative thoughts less intense. Over time, the more you exercise regularly, the more you'll stave off those thoughts in the first place.
The overall healthfulness of your diet may also make a major difference in your negative thoughts. Studies have shown that eating a Mediterranean diet, for instance, can reduce the likelihood of developing depression. Researchers are investigating the relationship between the gut microbiome and the brain, which may impact mental health.
To improve your mood and reduce negative thoughts through diet, focus on eating plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables. Making sure you get all the appropriate vitamins and nutrients may improve symptoms of depression and other mental illnesses. If you can't get all your nutrients through food, certain supplements could also make a difference in your mental health.
What to Do in a Crisis Situation
If you experience suicidal ideation or thoughts of self-harm, don't try to manage them on your own. Instead, get immediate help by contacting a mental health professional, calling a hotline, or going to the hospital. For suicide crisis prevention in the U.S., you can call or text the Lifeline at 988. Or call 911 or go straight to the nearest emergency room. With professional support, you may keep even the worst of your negative thoughts from doing irreparable harm.
