Thinking makes you sad

[-Demosthenes-]

Have you ever been laying in bed and your thinking all the stuff you have to do tomorrow and all the stuff you messed up on that day? It seems whenever I have a chance to sit down and think I get depressed.

When I was younger and not as social I was sad a lot, not like really sad, just not satisfied with everything. Now I'm out all the time, I don't spend any time at home. I don't have anytime to think. When I do think I think about what I'm going to do with my friends the next day, and I'm always happy and excited.

So, I was thinking that maybe thinking too much makes you stressed out adn depressed. Has anyone else thought about this??

[Glider]

It's not so much thinking too much, it's thinking the wrong things, or more accurately, a negative bias to you thinking. The first line of your post says "...thinking all the stuff you have to do tomorrow and all the stuff you messed up on that day". This focusses on the negative aspects. The stuff you have to do and the stuff you messed up. That same line could have read "...looking forward to all the stuff you're going to do tomorrow, and all the stuff you schieved/completed/enjoyed today".

 

Everyone has stuff they have to do, and everyone screws up now and again. But these are only a part of daily life, and not everyone focusses on those aspects when they think about things. Most people, having done the stuff they have to do, go on to do stuff they want to do. Most people, after screwing up will think "ok...that was a screw-up. Now to fix it/do something else".

 

Day to day life is usually a mix of good and bad things. If, when you're thinking, you focus only on the bad things, you are going to get depressed. More important is that this thought pattern can become habit; focussing on the negative and ignoring the positive. It's a depressive cycle and can do you harm. Not thinking about anything won't help, because that just avoids/supresses the problem. Try to balance things out, if you find yourself thingking about negative stuff, try to remember some positive stuff as well.

 

Perhaps the best thing to do is to take control. If you find yourself thinking about all the stuff you have to do tomorrow, rather than thinking "Awww...bummer!" Try thinking "Ok, what's the best way to get all this stuff done?". If you find yourself thinking about stuff you messed up on, rather than thinking "Aww geez, I screwed up again!", try thinking "Ok, that was dumb, but nobody died and nobody got pregnant, so what should I have done?".

 

This way of thinking lets you take back some control and allows you to deal with the problems. You'll start getting through all the stuff you have to do more quickly, and screw-ups will become rarer and you'll avoid screwing up the same way twice. When that happens, you'll find they don't depress you any more.

[admiral_ju00]

damn, glider beat me to this

 

i was going to say that there is a difference between a clinical depression one where the is a chemical imbalance in the brain(which doesn't sound like you have) and a self-induced(or self-declared/decided) depression which is what you get for thinking all that negative stuff(wait a minute, i do that all the time as well )

[Tesseract]

Hah, I knew Glider was a psychologist.Also he has a Phd.

You get rewarded the Tesseract Good Job award:

One every week from now on.I count weeks from Monday to Sunday so there will be one tommorow.

[Tesseract]

BTW, heres a summary of what Glider said;Thinking dosnt make you sad, sad thinking makes you sad.

Kinda sounds like the NRA thing.

[YT2095]

it is possible to spend too much time alone, and turn inwards with thought, it`s essential to have regular external stimuli, we`re just designed that way!

introspection is a good thing but must be ballanced and tempered with externaly based thoughts, otherwise you risk making "mountains out of mole hills" because your internal representation of whatever bothers you has been dwelled upon for too long, and with each disturbing thought there`s a physical and emotional reaction that merely serves to compound and intensify the original conviction or worry

 

as they say, Get Out more

[-Demosthenes-]

So I was just kind of pessimistic and I thought about negative things. I didn't think of that.

[YT2095]

and the more you thought the more compounded these feelings and affirmation would get as they triggered an emotional and physical responce every time you did, that`s all

there is a saying, it might make sense to you? :

 

"do we run because we`re scared, or are we scared because we`re running?"

 

meaning that sometimes your reaction can compound and make VERY REAL but exagerated, what started out as a simple concern

[Phi for All]

So, I was thinking that maybe thinking too much makes you stressed out adn depressed.

You just had a major birthday, you fell in love... again, you're laying in bed thinking sad thoughts today, tomorrow everything will look completely different.

 

This is common. This is normal. This is LIFE!

[Tesseract]

THIS IS LIFE!!!

Wow I never would have thought this is life.Hmm good point Phi.

[admiral_ju00]

So I was just kind of pessimistic ......

 

Bleh. Being Pessimistic is the way to go.

I mean think about it, if you brace yourself for the worst, but when you actually do the thing you need to do and don't fulfil your predictions, then it'll be more rewarding

[Tesseract]

Hmm, good point Admiral. Optimism=no gratification

[Tesseract]

Wait, if thinking makes you sad than does not thinking make you happy?

[-Demosthenes-]

I also noticed something else. First I have to tell you that I'm kind of afraid of the dark, it's kind of ebarressing but I'm not that afraid. I walk home in the dark from my friends' houses about every night (I know I'm 16 but I kind of failed Divers ed, different story ) anyway, it used to be kind of scary, you know just a little. But now I find myself thinking aobut other things and find myself at my front door and don't relize that I've been walking the whole time. I guess that's almost the opposite of what I was saying ealier. When you think good thoughts it might distract you from other not as good thoughts? Just thought of it.

[Phi for All]

I once did that driving. And not on a straight stretch of road, either. I was driving home and thinking about a woman I was seeing who really made me feel good. I negotiated turns, stop signs, maybe even a traffic light or two, when suddenly I noticed there was a strange car in my driveway. I had no recollection of the drive home, couldn't remember any of the drive, and only snapped out of it when something odd happened, a strange car in the driveway. I'd like to think if I had needed to be alert I would have snapped out of it sooner, but who knows?

[Tesseract]

thats happens to me too sometimes.I just lapse into a deep thought and time seems to stop....then something brings me back.

[jordan]

It's weird and a little unnerving when that happens. Makes you wonder about if you miss a turn one time down the road. If you don't remember anything about driving, how are you sure you will never miss a turn. Anyway, that's only happened to me a few times and mostly on the interstates after driving for an hour or two. I find myself thinking of some strange science thing, either that or trying to remember what I had for breakfast. That can bother me for a while sometimes, too.

[Tesseract]

crazy isnt it.........

[jordan]

Creepy's a good word too.

[Tesseract]

They're both good words.

[-Demosthenes-]

I can get distracted easily by my thoughts especially when I'm sitting and watching something boring. Like a little brother's soccer game, I'll just zone out and think about something and when I "return" I have no idea how much time has past.

Also, I've noticed that sometimes when I'm preocupied and I look in the mirror and I see myslef I reconize myself and even think of the image as me, but not really me. Like I'm looking at someone whose not quite me. This doesn't happen very often, but it is similar to words losing meaning. You know when you say a word over and over and the word loses meaning.

 

Edit-So what I've concluded is that deeply thinking and losing at least some of your awareness and you are distracted from other thoughts and actions that your are doing. And the actions must be commited to implicit memory where the subject who has the memory does not consciously know that they know that they know how to do something but can do it (where explicit memory is the memory where you know what the skill is that they can do). So someone deeply in thought could do something like drive and use their implicit memory to drive while they think, but that would only work if the driver was really good at driving right?? Tell me if anyhting is wrong, especially about implicit and explicit memory.

thx

[Glider]

Behaviours that require no conscious input once they have been initiated are called automatisms.

[jordan]

And how do they work?

[Tesseract]

And how do they work?

 

Isnt it just fun to wonder Jordan.

I wish they didnt work.

[Dave]

Eh? One thing I learned in GCSE Biology was about automatisms such as taking away your hand from something that's very hot without the need for your brain to decide what to do. Surely you'd want that to work?