Mental Health Today

Anxiety can be a difficult condition to deal with, especially when it takes control of our lives. We can feel like our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are out of our control. But understanding the negative thought cycle is an important step to taking back control of our anxiety. The negative thought cycle is a cycle of events, thoughts, feelings, behaviors, and outcomes that can lead to increased anxiety or depressive symptoms in individuals. It starts with an event that can be either internal or external, such as a challenging situation or a negative thought. The emotion then leads to a certain behavior, which can be either helpful or unhelpful. Unhelpful behaviors can be, for example, procrastination, avoidance, using alcohol, or self-harm. On the other hand, helpful behaviors can be things like problem-solving, self-care, and seeking professional help. Therefore, it is important to understand the negative thought cycle so that we can be in control of our anxiety, instead of the other way around. He