Wild thinking

ellie2000

Being on my own thoughts went wild, y

Former Member

Hey @ellie2000

It can be hard when you're alone and you end up having loads of different thoughts racing through your head I know when I'm on my own, my mind often decides to go through the entire back catalogue of thoughts and experiences! I think it's the lack of distraction and also not having a mental 'filter' yet to go 'no, I don't want to go over that thought/feeling again'. Was there anything in particular that came up or that upset you? x

ellie2000

wats a mental filter, how do u cope with the whole autopilot backcatalogue thing without goin off the rails and gettin upset?

Former Member

Hi Ellie,

One of the Psychological Wellbeing Practitioners that I've seen told me about having a 'negative mental filter' to block the negative thoughts or let them just go through without focusing on them. It's all part of something called cognitive restructuring, where you take your negative thoughts and think of the evidence that supports that thought and what goes against it (the positive side). I'm not going to lie, it's super hard, but I find it does help give you more perspective.

What does help is trying to focus on a happy or positive thought (e.g. for distraction), and recognising that these thoughts/feelings do not own you and are not a true reflection of the world around you. Also, writing thoughts down help - and then scrunching them up and throwing them.

To be honest, I haven't mastered the mental filter yet and some of my back catalogue thoughts do still upset me. But I'm continuing to try and 'restructure' my thoughts, and continuing with therapy. I understand it is really difficult to manage negative thoughts, especially when you are in a dark place and it feels like you're alone, but remember that you are NOT alone and you are valued and wanted x