Best Way to Reduce Depression with Constructive Thinking

Everyone has negative thoughts once in a while. But if your negative thoughts occur too frequently, you’ll feel down all the time.

The first step in developing more constructive thinking is to identify your frequent negative thoughts. Here are some examples of negative thoughts that may sound familiar:

•  Nobody loves me.
•  What’s the use?
• I’m worthless.
•  It’s all my fault.
•  I can’t cope with this pain anymore.

•  Why do bad things always happen to me?
•  I’ll never get over this depression.
•  I am not as good as Mary.
•  I can’t think of anything to do that would be fun.

A negative thought is usually caused by some situation or event. This situation or event is called an activating event or a trigger event. For example, suppose you miss a bus on the way to work in the morning. A negative thought that might follow this activating event is “I can’t do anything right; I can’t even get to the bus on time.”

One key to overcoming depression is to fight off nega­tive thoughts when they occur.

One way to begin thinking more constructively is to substitute a positive counter thought for this negative thought. A positive counter thought is a more realistic, and usually optimistic, thought about the same activating event.

Many of the thoughts that make you feel bad are irra­tional. Negative thoughts are often overreactions in which you exaggerate the circumstances, impose unrealistic expectations on yourself or someone else, or jump to con­clusions.

Arguing with your irrational thoughts

Learn to recognize your self-critical thoughts and learn to confront them. Instead of simply accepting the idea that all your thoughts are true, imagine that you’re in a debate with yourself. Train yourself to challenge your thoughts, asking just how true they really are. You may be surprised to find that many of the thoughts that have been getting you down are irrational.

People often make grand, irrational generalizations from a single event. But remember: sleeping through a PTA meeting doesn’t mean you’re a bad parent. Turning in a sloppy report doesn’t mean you’re lazy and incompetent. Making one mistake does not mean that you’re a failure, or that you will never succeed again, or that no one likes you.

Replacing negative thoughts with positive ones

Once you are able to identify some of your negative thoughts and discover how they affect your behavior and feelings, it is only a short step to changing your thinking so that it is more constructive.