How do you stop constantly thinking about things that make you sad

[Cerys]

Go gothic.  Embrace the sadness.  Just don't get all pretentious about it - no-one needs to look back on themselves doing that.

[Small Man Big Horse]

get angry witu brain. ask, id =having th4e4 thoughts doing me any good? if not, shut th e fuck up.]

yes; st8oo drunk. sorryl

[Danger Man]

get angry witu brain. ask, id =having th4e4 thoughts doing me any good? if not, shut th e fuck up.]

yes; st8oo drunk. sorryl

smerky let plekry cubed

[salr]

I found this video useful when dealing with unhelpful/intrusive thoughts. https://www.nhs.uk/Video/Pages/unhelpful-thinking-podcast.aspx?searchtype=Tag&searchterm=Mental+health__Moodzone&

I think you can't block them out or delete these thoughts, you have to acknowledge them, but think 'so what'. idk.

[The Boston Crab]

I always just think I would have gotten away with it if it wasn't for those pesky kids I kept in a dungeon :(

[bgmnts]

Have you ever considered just pulling yourself off?

I mean, pulling yourself together.




I mean, having a wank.

Is that the Nazi dog from Danger 5 as your avatar?

[alan nagsworth]

Is that the Nazi dog from Danger 5 as your avatar?

It is! I've been watching it again recently and I forgot how incredibly funny it is. A sorely overlooked gem of a show.

[Lost Oliver]

Yesterday I did this. Having a meal, someone said something negative to me and then that's all I could think about for the rest of meal no matter what I did. I could feel myself sulking and thinking only negatively but I couldn't shake it. Body language went in on itself and I was just waiting for it all to be over so I could go home. When I got home all I could think about was how pathetic I was and that I should've done something about my mood instead of bringing everyone around me down.

[Twit 2]

I say it every time, but STOIC PHILOSOPHY.

Start with Marcus Aurelius's Meditations.

[poo]

Get lifting

[Alberon]

Hard to look at your avatar and be sad

But doctor, I am Monsieur Verdoux!

[bgmnts]

It is! I've been watching it again recently and I forgot how incredibly funny it is. A sorely overlooked gem of a show.

If you can get a gif of Colonel Chestbridge eating the bug off his shoulder i'd have it.

OP, watch both seasons of Danger 5, that'll stop the bad thoughts.

Oh, and KILL HITLER!

[Sin Agog]

I think the reason why so many of us are depressed is because every time we write a post we're quite proud of, we scroll down to the list of online users and see that leering prick 'This isnt witty sorry' judging us.

[Buelligan]

Yesterday I did this. Having a meal, someone said something negative to me and then that's all I could think about for the rest of meal no matter what I did. I could feel myself sulking and thinking only negatively but I couldn't shake it. Body language went in on itself and I was just waiting for it all to be over so I could go home. When I got home all I could think about was how pathetic I was and that I should've done something about my mood instead of bringing everyone around me down.

I was thinking about this today.  About how people react to experiences and the choices we all make about those experiences.  I concluded that, very often and from a young age, people seem to be trained to choose to take what might be called challenging experiences as a trigger for a bit of hand-wringing or even a complete meltdown.

If you've ever seen a little kid fall over you may have noticed it.  Often, if they're not actually properly injured, they look a bit shocked as if their brains are searching for an appropriate response to the event.  This happens throughout our lives with loads of stuff, like disappointments, boredom, surprise or shock, someone else getting their way, tons of stuff, and we train ourselves and each other to almost always opt for the negative.  In that minuscule little window of choice we have.  Getting cross, getting upset, because those responses get us attention, they get us what we want.  And they're easy, they take very little effort.

Pretty soon a lot of people forget that they're even choosing, they just react, usually in a way that brings them and others a shitty time.

At that moment, when you drop a plate or your laptop, when your birthday's forgotton or your house burns down, you can't change what's happened but you can change how you react, which will change that experience for you and for people around you.

Someone was really quite aggressive to me yesterday, on my way to work, middle of nowhere, it was a man and bigger than me.  After, for a bit I felt really horrible, pretty angry.  I felt like crying.  I needed a hug.  And then I thought, fuck it, it happened, it's over, why should I let that fuck make me feel bad.  And I stopped and thought about some nice shit instead and the rest of my shift was absolutely fine.

[Mister Six]

The old Buddhists try to meditate to the point where they can observe their feelings and thoughts from the outside. Maybe the next time you're sad you can just think "oh, I'm sad - that's a thing."

This is what I do, more or less, along with some Buelligan-style brain bollocking. If I'm feeling irritable or sad or something, I try to pinpoint why that might be. Did I break my no caffeine rule by having a coffee yesterday and now I'm getting withdrawal symptoms? Did I just not sleep or eat enough?

Whether or not I can figure it out, I just accept that's how I feel today, and try to manage my exposure to things that will exacerbate it, while not letting it affect my responses to people (eg. by snapping at them).  Keep focusing on the knowledge that this is just my internal chemical response to exterior phenomena, not "real" in any meaningful sense. Maybe have a wank.

But, importantly, I don't suffer from a mental illness. If you have intrusive upsetting thoughts or extended, inexplicable periods of depression or anxiety (or mania, for that matter) you should definitely have a word with a doctor.

[Pingers]

It's possibly worth noting that there is a difference between ruminating and thinking. Sometimes we believe we are thinking about something a lot but actually we are having the same brief thought over and over on a loop, i.e. ruminating. This is unhelpful as you just get stuck and you tend to have no useful thoughts. When I get stuck I deliberately do something different in my life, break a pattern or go somewhere new or do something I haven't done for a long time, which I find helps me break the circle.

[Monsieur Verdoux]

have lost my appetite as well now so I think it's probably the Citalopram fucking with me. having one of life's great dilemmas in that I'm very tempted to keep taking them even if I go insane just so I can get my cheekbones back

[Pingers]

have lost my appetite as well now so I think it's probably the Citalopram fucking with me. having one of life's great dilemmas in that I'm very tempted to keep taking them even if I go insane just so I can get my cheekbones back

How long have you been taking them? When I started on fluoxetine I got some cheap whizz effects but they only lasted a little over two weeks (although it was a pretty mental two weeks)

[bgmnts]

Citalopram made me absolutely balloon in weight.

[Monsieur Verdoux]

How long have you been taking them? When I started on fluoxetine I got some cheap whizz effects but they only lasted a little over two weeks (although it was a pretty mental two weeks)

been taking them about 5 weeks and I was fine for the first 3

[Pingers]

Hmmm, well the side effects of SSRIs rarely last more than a couple of weeks so it suggests they are not working out for you, at least not at that dosage. But you have a doctor's appointment coming up so you can talk to them about it then. The waiting for something to work is a pain in the arse.

[Cloud]

It's trite as fuck, but... try to identify and take note of things to be happy about.  Maybe look at the various "happy news" sites (google 'em) so that you can be reminded that humans do good things sometimes and that it's not all people being utter shits. (with apologies to Utter Shit).  Step away from politics for a bit.  Try not to worry too much about things you can't control on your own (like the climate), and just do your best with your part

Maybe something to care for like a pet? That can feel quite wholesome.

Failing all that, escapism.  Games, movies, books, TV shows... watch something nice, with a bit of optimism to it

[Sebastian Cobb]

Just remember that picture of Farage when he fell out of that plane.

[Cuellar]

Be the change you want to see in the world

[Pingers]

Just remember that picture of Farage when he fell out of that plane.

Yeah but he DIDN'T DIE. So that's not going to help is it?

[Monsieur Verdoux]

I love you all

[Lordofthefiles]

Be the change you want to see in the world

*cue out-of-town shopping mall massacre*

[Lisa Jesusandmarychain]

I love you all

Even me ?

[Buelligan]

Especially you Lisa, you're his favourite.  Don't rub it in.

[Monsieur Verdoux]

did the appointment, they said stop taking the pills