[LyndseyM]

Thinking, thinking, thinking. Sometimes I feel like I'm thinking my way straight to the funny farm. Thinking is great when it's positive or neutral but when it's negative it can send me spiralling down into the depths of despair in no time at all.

Do you have any ways of breaking a negative thinking cycle? Both for 'nipping it in the bud' i.e. before it gets into a cycle and for when it's gone way past that i.e. when you're mentally on your knees struggling to handle even everyday tasks?



Friends and family often advise me to 'get out and do something' which is fine in the early stages and can help me snap out of it but if I've already gone past that stage 'getting out and doing something' isn't something I can force myself to do, try as I might! At that point I'd find it difficult to even speak to my partner, let alone go out and socialise/be energetic/open the front door.

What do you do to drag yourself back up again?

[NeedsNewNameNow]

Thinking, thinking, thinking. Sometimes I feel like I'm thinking my way straight to the funny farm. Thinking is great when it's positive or neutral but when it's negative it can send me spiralling down into the depths of despair in no time at all.

Nope, no off switch!

Do you have any ways of breaking a negative thinking cycle? Both for 'nipping it in the bud' i.e. before it gets into a cycle and for when it's gone way past that i.e. when you're mentally on your knees struggling to handle even everyday tasks?

Friends and family often advise me to 'get out and do something' which is fine in the early stages and can help me snap out of it but if I've already gone past that stage 'getting out and doing something' isn't something I can force myself to do, try as I might! At that point I'd find it difficult to even speak to my partner, let alone go out and socialise/be energetic/open the front door.

What do you do to drag yourself back up again?

Eventually I'll find a positive train of thought to replace it with. Sometimes it takes time. Sometimes getting out and doing things, and getting into different situations can help (but sometimes it makes it worse, depending on how enjoyable it is, or even if I'm open to enjoyment at the time)

EDIT: I should add that I usually bury or avoid negative thought cycles pretty quickly, sometimes when I shouldn't

[Proteus]

Yes, they're called sleeping pills.

Then again, sometimes my brain tends to be a hell of a lot more active than is preferred when unconscious.

I try and distract myself any way I can when I begin to pile thought upon thought of unpleasant things/scenarios on top of eachother. But sometimes it's best to just let them run their course to get them out of your system, and sometimes they even lead to a greater understanding or realization.

[Molock]

There is no off switch unfortunately. I usually weather the storm and a different train of thought eventually replaces the negative one. Other than simply enduring I will try and find something distracting to do, watching videos, playing games, or watching television for example. Speaking to people hardly ever helps so I don't do that.

I've had many of these negative trains of thought recently, its been hard. On the bright side I am still alive.

[Nitou]

Hmm... just wait for it to pass. Don't make any major decisions while in that state. I find that humor helps sometimes. For example I hate my employer and all of the stupidity/absurdity, so I just laugh at it, laugh at the stupid people, else I am pissed off...

[thewindlistens]

When it's fresh, I usually can't stop it so I just ride with it. Maybe try to distract myself with a bunch of things, hoping one of them will work.

When it's not really fresh anymore, whatever it was, it's pretty easy to get rid of. Hard to explain how I do it I guess. It was really amazing when I first did it. The first instinct whenever something like that goes through my mind is to try to think about something, anything else. I find if I mentally go the direct opposite way on purpouse, if I try to think the negative thoughts as hard as I can, I usually find the very subjective root of the negative feeling. It's really interesting how it's not always the most obvious thing, and I might need to introspect for a while. But when I do find it, I know I'm there immediately. The negative feelings that were ambient to all of the thoughts that I was exploring just disappear on the spot. It's an awesome feeling. I just go "Yeah, that fits, that's exactly what was bothering me." And completeley subconsciously, I think (I don't ever notice it happening, anyway), I realise how moronic it is to feel bad about something so insignificant.

When it is something significant, like the feelings from the loss of a loved one, it's an entirely different story. Compared to what I was describing above, feelings of such grief do feel bad, but in a somehow healthy way. Like that's where they belong, like they should be a part of me.

[Nynnu]

Learn new stuff? new language, new skill? Have you tried to blog or even learn to write some programming codes?
By that you can kill two birds with one stone.
Makes your brain tired and learns new skill at the same time. Who knows they may be useful in the future.

[NeedsNewNameNow]

Hmm... just wait for it to pass. Don't make any major decisions while in that state. I find that humor helps sometimes. For example I hate my employer and all of the stupidity/absurdity, so I just laugh at it, laugh at the stupid people, else I am pissed off...

That is true.. I start to joke around alot! People often assume it's because I'm in a good mood, but often the humor is a way to try to cheer myself up!

[Kadjunga]

No off switch i'm afraid but if you can catch it early enough and just say "Stop, what? Thats ludicrous because of A B C" Even if it is not, that usually gets me thinking "why is it not ludicrous/why is it" and puts a halt to it or atleast a pause. Doesn't work all the time but better than nothing.

If however it's gone past the point then it's "zone out" with almost any activity to stop thinking altogether. Say play a mindless game or watch some tv series/movies. Usually it makes it worse but after a few days/weeks i can just think about it clearly and notice how irrelevant it really is.

[Dude]

Thinking, thinking, thinking. Sometimes I feel like I'm thinking my way straight to the funny farm. Thinking is great when it's positive or neutral but when it's negative it can send me spiralling down into the depths of despair in no time at all.

Do you have any ways of breaking a negative thinking cycle? Both for 'nipping it in the bud' i.e. before it gets into a cycle and for when it's gone way past that i.e. when you're mentally on your knees struggling to handle even everyday tasks?

Friends and family often advise me to 'get out and do something' which is fine in the early stages and can help me snap out of it but if I've already gone past that stage 'getting out and doing something' isn't something I can force myself to do, try as I might! At that point I'd find it difficult to even speak to my partner, let alone go out and socialise/be energetic/open the front door.

What do you do to drag yourself back up again?

Well I tell ya Lyndsey, as much as you all ready know, regardless of personality type, this is something that one hope to find out before it's too late. Myself, a little or lot of sex breaks my intense thought on most anything that is negative, but thats just me.