Feelings, thoughts and action

When you are depressed, negative thoughts race through your mind.

• These may be about:yourself,
      e.g. "I am a bad person", "I can never do anything right" and "I am not good enough"
• other people,
      e.g. "I can't trust anyone else", "No one likes me", and "They are only out to harm me"
• the world and the future,
      e.g. "The world is evil and it will never be any different"

It is very important that you realise that your negative thoughts are not based in reality. Negative thinking is a symptom of depression. Your negative thoughts contribute to your depressed mood and cause negative feelings.

Thinking Patterns
Throughout your life, you develop a specific way of thinking. Your thoughts become triggered according to a particular pattern, which we call your "personal thinking pattern". When an important event occurs in your life, you engage your personal thinking pattern which then determines your response.

Let's look at an example: Perhaps you have experienced the break-up of an important relationship. This triggers previous thought patterns and ideas, even if they were developed a long time ago, e.g. during your childhood.

Here are some typical negative thoughts:

• "My relationship has broken up because I am not good enough".
• "I am worthless".
• "There is nothing worth loving about me".

Link between thoughts and feelings

You can risk reinforcing your own negative feelings to the point where they become insurmountable. This is because there is a direct link between thoughts and feelings. We have illustrated this link in the box shown below:

The vicious cycle of negative thoughts can become a trap. But you can learn to break it. You can do this by taking a step out of the cycle. You can break the vicious cycle by changing your thoughts and feelings. 

 You can see the vicious cycle of depression here: