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[THREAD] I want to take a moment to talk about something that seems harmless on the surface but that can be harmful when it comes to mental health and that is the so called power of “positive thinking”. You probably have seen it whether it is in a tweet, movie or book. It is
offered as a remedy to alleviate symptoms of mental health issues and looks simple by design. All you have to do is think positive thoughts and eventually you will feel better. So let’s break it down and show why that is not the case at all. Let’s start with thoughts.
It is estimated that we get tens of thousands of thoughts a day. Most of those thoughts are automatic thoughts. That means that they are repetitive thoughts that we get. In someone who struggles with their mental health, most of those thoughts are going to be negative. Even
for people who don’t suffer from mental health issues, it is estimated that as many as 80% of thoughts are negative. How can you possibly counter or replace tens of thousands of thoughts a day from negative to positive? That’s not even remotely possible. Furthermore, it sets
people suffering from mental health issues for failure. By telling them to simply think positively, you can make them feel worse because they seemingly fail at achieving such a “simple” task on the surface and that can actually just worsen their mental health.
Another important thing to point out is that mental health is not just thoughts. It is a set of different circumstances and issues aligning to create mental illness. It is behaviours, thoughts, environmental circumstances and so on. It is not possible to solve mental illness
by minimizing it and offering a simple solution. That’s just not how it works. Also, positive thinking is counterintuitive when we look at our evolution. Having negative thoughts and being on alert for potential dangers is literally how we survived and those genes were more
likely to be passed on. Someone who thought that there was always danger and was on alert would survive simply because they are ready for everything whereas someone who thought everything was fine could have been caught by surprise and killed by a predator or something else.
While I am specifically targeting “positive thinking” here, it is important to be on the lookout for any simple solutions that are offered as miracles. No, this herb won’t cure your mental health and one advice isn’t going to magically change anything.
