Negative thoughts

You may have negative thoughts which are closely linked with sadness. Everyone who is suffering from depression has negative thoughts e.g.:

• "I'm not good at anything"
• "I'm hopeless"
• "Nobody understands me"
• "Life is unfair"
• "I deserved the rotten things that happen to me"
• "I deserve to be punished"
• "It would be better for everyone if I was dead"

Perhaps you feel that you don't live up to your own or others' expectations. You may feel that you are bad at or unsuitable for the work you do. You may also feel that you are lazy, indulgent or too hard on your family. Or perhaps you label yourself as a bad person.

Feelings of guilt

You may also have excessive feelings of guilt. These feelings can also be related to things that you have done or they can be related to things that you ought to have done.

Your negative thoughts may be realistic but are usually exaggerated. Sometimes they are completely unrealistic. Here is an example of such exaggerated feelings of guilt:

When a 50 year old man became severely depressed, he referred time and time again to his youth. He was employed in a big company then. The company distributed work clothes to the staff. The man had at some point taken a pair of work trousers home with him. He could not really explain whether he had stolen the trousers or not. Perhaps he had just forgotten to take them off as he went home. Now, approximately 30 years later in his depression, he was riddled with guilt about this. He was adamant that the trousers event was proof of his bad character. He felt that he ought to go to the police and be punishment.

He was later diagnosed with psychotic depression which required admission to hospital and appropriate treatment.