All people have days feeling like a dark cloud is following them around which seems normal. If a glass-half-full kind of person, he might bounce back to seeing the sunshine pretty quickly. Unfortunately, far too many of them get stuck in what seems like a never-ending thunderstorm of negative thoughts and worries. Left unchecked, these thought patterns can lead them down a spiral straight to anxiety and depression (Hampton, 2017). Science has determined that unhealthy thinking patterns largely contribute to mental health conditions. Negative thought patterns can play a big role in causing and worsening depression and anxiety. Furthermore, negative thoughts are cognitions about the self, others, or the world in general that are characterized by negative perceptions, expectations, and attributions and are associated with unpleasant emotions and adverse behavioral, physiological, and health outcomes (Hawkley, 2013).
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