Help How to actually deal with cyclical negative thoughts

[deep-sleeper]

"Cyclical" because these continuous negative thoughts last from hours to even a few days, and when they stop, it is like they were never there to begin with. And this ruined me and anyone close to me

And the only way that I know to temporally stop them during a cycle is by mutilating myself

Before anyone asks, after 5+ years of suffering from this, I've stated talking with professionals about 2 months ago, but rn I am only doing some psychological assessments because my family is doesn't have that much money now and I couldn't continue therapy(only did 1 session), and this assessment that my therapists recommended to me

 

[derpyderpins]

It's stupidly annoying but generally you have to call out the thoughts. No matter what, I'm guessing your negative thoughts exaggerate at least some, so you have to bring them back. When I say stupidly annoying, I mean it.

"I'm such a stupid worthless piece of shit." Answer yourself: "Sigh . . . no: I'm a person. I have at least some small worth. Intelligence isn't measured any one way and it's not up to me to determine who's stupid and who isn't."

"I'm so sick of this shit it will never get any better everything is always so awful." Answer yourself: "Being tired of bad things is reasonable, but I have no way of knowing if it will get better or not and all evidence says that there will probably be some ups and downs. Everything isn't literally always awful and it's inaccurate to say that."

Seriously annoying but that's the prescription.

 

[fedup1982]

It's stupidly annoying but generally you have to call out the thoughts. No matter what, I'm guessing your negative thoughts exaggerate at least some, so you have to bring them back. When I say stupidly annoying, I mean it.

"I'm such a stupid worthless piece of shit." Answer yourself: "Sigh . . . no: I'm a person. I have at least some small worth. Intelligence isn't measured any one way and it's not up to me to determine who's stupid and who isn't."

"I'm so sick of this shit it will never get any better everything is always so awful." Answer yourself: "Being tired of bad things is reasonable, but I have no way of knowing if it will get better or not and all evidence says that there will probably be some ups and downs. Everything isn't literally always awful and it's inaccurate to say that."

Seriously annoying but that's the prescription.

Exactly. It takes practice. The more you do it the more the positive thoughts should take hold

 

[deep-sleeper]

It's stupidly annoying but generally you have to call out the thoughts. No matter what, I'm guessing your negative thoughts exaggerate at least some, so you have to bring them back. When I say stupidly annoying, I mean it.

"I'm such a stupid worthless piece of shit." Answer yourself: "Sigh . . . no: I'm a person. I have at least some small worth. Intelligence isn't measured any one way and it's not up to me to determine who's stupid and who isn't."

"I'm so sick of this shit it will never get any better everything is always so awful." Answer yourself: "Being tired of bad things is reasonable, but I have no way of knowing if it will get better or not and all evidence says that there will probably be some ups and downs. Everything isn't literally always awful and it's inaccurate to say that."

Seriously annoying but that's the prescription.

It's easy for me to do this rn because a cycle just ended (just for curiosity sake, it started a few minutes before I created this account, and also the reason why I did it in the first place)

But I feel like I do this already, but once I've done fighting a thought, something triggers me and I have to fight another and this keeps going until the cycle ends. I also disassociate a lot during these cycles, and by the end, I just forget a lot of the feelings that I just had

 

[Wolf Girl]

Do you think you might have OCD? Read up on OCD rumination. There are tons of videos, books and workbooks for OCD.

Regardless of diagnosis, I think you will do the best looking for resources that use cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) skills.

 

[deep-sleeper]

Do you think you might have OCD? Read up on OCD rumination. There are tons of videos, books and workbooks for OCD.

Regardless of diagnosis, I think you will do the best looking for resources that use cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) skills.

I don't like self diagnosis, but am pretty sure I have it plus a few other mental illnesses, but sadly I can't do therapy rn because of money

 

[Wolf Girl]

I don't like self diagnosis, but am pretty sure I have it plus a few other mental illnesses, but sadly I can't do therapy rn because of money

There are countless CBT workbooks you can buy.

 

[deep-sleeper]

There are countless CBT workbooks you can buy.

Can you direct me to a few of them?

 

[Wolf Girl]

Here's a couple. DBT and ACT are good too

Amazon.com

www.amazon.com

Amazon.com

www.amazon.com

 

[deep-sleeper]

Here's a couple. DBT and ACT are good too

Amazon.com

www.amazon.com

Amazon.com

www.amazon.com

I will see if they work, tysm!

 

[westerly_merlin]

I am in therapy and have been asked by my psychoanalyst to journal the thought, the trigger for them and how it makes me feel.

It some times helps break that downward spiral, just detailing that a comment someone said caused me to start thinking I am such a terrible person and it made me feel angry at myself - and then reading it back to think "fuck that was not a criticism, and you over reacted there" can help.

But there again sometimes I forget (or don't want to) and I go down that whirlpool of introspection towards the pit of despair until I end up SH.

WM