A multitude of different issues and factors have an impact upon an individual's mental health and well-being. Therefore, it is crucial during treatment of mental health conditions such as depression that the therapist and patient work together in order to identify the main underlying factors and use skills such as acceptance or distress tolerance when things cannot be changed or tools such as behavioural experiments and SMART goal setting when circumstances are changeable. A key factor which negatively impacts those suffering depression will now be explored, including:
- What is self-talk?
- Why is negative self-talk a factor in depression?
- How to change self-talk
What is Self-talk?
Self-talk, often referred to as internal dialogue is used to describe the millions of thoughts that go through one's mind throughout the day. Joseph (2009) identifies self-talk as being the things a person says about themself when faced with problems, difficulties or challenges.
Self-talk is common to all and is a part of cognitive processing. In itself there is nothing wrong or harmful about self-talk, however when it becomes consistently negative, unhealthy and unbalanced this may eventually have harmful implications for one's mental health.
Why is Negative Self-talk a Factor in Depression?
Negative self-talk will impact one's mental health and increase the likelihood of one suffering from common mental conditions such as depression. This is because if a person is constantly telling themselves that they are a failure or useless or not good enough it will in turn impact behaviour such as the way situations and other people are dealt with and can indeed become both a vicious cycle and self-fulfilling prophecy.
Eventually one's negative self-talk turns into unhealthy beliefs about oneself and one's abilities which impact both performance and emotions. Common examples of negative self talk identified by Joseph (2009) include the following: I'll probably fail, I'm not that good, that sounds difficult, I've always been this way and I don't know much about anything. It is easy to imagine by reading the previous list that if this is what one hears day in day out it would certainly make one feel both depressed and anxious when one is faced with a challenge or tricky situation.
How to Change Self-talk
The first step to changing negative self-talk is to identify and be aware of it through observing how one describes oneself and one's abilities in times of difficulty or when faced with obstacles. The next step is to think of healthier, alternative things to say such as instead of saying, 'I'll probably fail' change this to, 'I want to succeed.'
It can also help to stick post-it notes around the house with new, healthier, more helpful expressions to get in the habit of becoming more positive and gain in confidence. Reciting more helpful beliefs is another effective way of directly challenging negative self-talk.
To conclude, it is clear that negative self-talk leads to one both feeling and acting in the same way. Identifying, challenging and replacing negative self-talk with healthier alternatives is key to improving one's mental health and emotional well-being.
Sources:
Carr, C. (2008) How not to worry Surrey: Crimson Publishing.
Joseph, A. (2009) Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Chichester: Capstone Publishing.
Kate Le Page - Kate Henning-Le Page writes about eating disorders, body image and recovery issues. She specializes in anorexia recovery.
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