Role of Thoughts in Depression

Your thoughts and feelings are closely linked to each other. The way you think about a situation determines how you feel about it, and this in turn influences your behaviour. At the same time, your feelings may also have an impact on your thoughts.

In case of a person battling depression, this connection between thoughts and emotions is even stronger. Depressive thoughts are often highly self-critical, as a result of which you might experience feelings of worthlessness and hopelessness. These negative thoughts are often not entirely rational or distorted, and they further maintain your negative mood.

Since your way of thinking strongly affects your perception of situations, negative thoughts have further consequences. Let’s take an example:

Situation

Mr. A and Mr. B, are walking down opposite sides of the street when they pass each other. Mr. A notices his friend and waves, but Mr. B does not wave back. A second later, Mr. B sees his friend and waves, but Mr. A does not wave back.

What does Mr. A, who is suffering from depression, think?

“Mr. B did not respond to me intentionally. I’m sure he hates me. I will try and avoid him in the future.”

On the other hand, Mr. B thinks-

"Maybe Mr. A was just preoccupied with something, which is why he did not see me. This could happen to anyone. Next time, I’ll go up to him and say hello."

You can see how two people in exactly the same situation felt and acted differently based on the thoughts they had about the situation.

When you have negative thoughts, you are likely to view a situation as unfavourable. As a result, you may feel more depressed and may further engage in negative thinking. Eventually, an endless cycle is created, and you might find it very hard to stop thinking or feeling negatively.

The experience of depression usually worsens because of this cycle of negative thoughts and feelings. In order to break this pattern, you need to be more aware of your thoughts and the situations that trigger negative thoughts. Learning to think about a situation differently and being kind to yourself can help break this vicious cycle and help you feel better again If you feel that doing so by yourself is too difficult a task, you can always talk to a psychological professional, like a psychologist, therapist, or a psychiatrist.