How you think about yourself, others, and the world around you will impact your mental and emotional health. Pessimistic thoughts can cause you to feel angry, bitter, or frustrated in your day-to-day life. However, you can choose to focus on the positives instead.
Retraining your brain to focus on good things is not always easy. However, finding healthy ways to reframe your thinking will improve your mental health and general well-being. Mindfuli is a therapy app that can connect you with mental health professionals who can help you process underlying issues causing negative or hostile thinking patterns.
What Are Hostile Thinking Patterns?
You might have hostile thinking patterns if you often feel cynical, bitter, pessimistic, or suspicious of other people. The primary characteristics include blaming others for bad things that happen in your life and being negative about other people in general.
Negative thinking patterns can manifest in multiple ways, including:
- Feeling victimized or taken advantage of by everyone you know
- A need to passive-aggressively manipulate others to achieve specific goals
- Immediately assuming all social interactions have an agenda
- Paranoia about how others think about you
- Discriminating against others based on assumptions
You might look at other people and see potential danger or feel like everyone is mocking you. The fear and mistrust of others often manifest as negative emotions like hostility, anger, or irritation. Mindfuli is an online mental health tool that can connect you with a therapist or counselor who can help you adopt healthier thinking patterns.
The Potential Side Effects of Negativity
Ongoing negativity and hostile thinking can significantly affect your mental and physical health. Some of the potential side effects of negativity include:
- Decreased immune system
- Chemical changes to the brain
- The development of mental health disorders
- Increased risk of substance abuse and other risk-taking behaviors
- Suicidal ideations or self-harm
- Difficulty maintaining relationships
- Increased risk of workplace or school conflicts
Negative thinking can also cause you to become socially and physically withdrawn, which also comes with health dangers. This pervasive type of negativity can cause toxic family dynamics and impact all members of a family unit.
The Importance of Positive Thinking for Mental Health
Positive thinking can have a significant effect on your physical and mental well-being. However, thinking positively does not mean never having negative emotions. Instead, it involves finding a healthy emotional balance.
According to MedlinePlus, you can have a positive outlook by “Finding balance between positive and negative emotions.” A therapist or counselor can help you achieve emotional stability and improve your general perspective on the people around you.
5 Ways to Overcome Negativity
Negativity can infect all areas of your life if you do not try to change how you cope with stress. Instead of letting yourself fall into maladaptive behaviors or thinking patterns, you can choose to get help. The dedicated mental health professionals at Mindfuli can show you healthier ways to manage your stress and frustration.
#1. Put Yourself in Someone Else’s Shoes
Imagine someone you love and care about going through whatever situation makes you feel angry, helpless, or hostile. How would your loved one react? Would you blame them for their reactions? How would their responses be different from your own? By taking a step back and looking at the situation from another point of view, you open yourself up to solutions you may not have thought of before.
#2. Accept Your Current Circumstances
Hostility often comes from a place of fear. Looking at your situation from an objective point of view can decrease feelings of fear, anxiety, or stress. Accepting your current circumstances and finding positive solutions will help you remain objective and heal. A therapist or counselor can help you work through any anger you may feel about your current situation and find ways to make positive changes.
#3. Meditation and Mindfulness Exercises
Being mindful of your thoughts and feelings can help you regulate emotions like anger, frustration, and anxiety. Meditation and mindfulness exercises are easy to practice while doing everyday activities like washing dishes or sitting quietly. The counselors on Mindfuli can help you learn effective mindfulness-based techniques to decrease stress and allow you to feel grounded in the moment.
#4. Anger Management Therapy
Some individuals feel out of control when angry or frustrated and might “blackout” or do things they immediately regret. If you find yourself struggling with overwhelming moments of anger, you might benefit from using Mindfuli to connect with a therapist specializing in anger management.
#5. Avoid Negative News
In the last few years, the news has been bleak. A global pandemic, riots, a devastating war, and local tragedies have filled the news. If you feel irrationally angry or hostile after reading the news or social media, you may benefit from avoiding them. Your therapist can work with you to find a healthy way to cope with negative information.
Hostile thinking patterns and negative emotions can keep you emotionally stuck and cause you to rely on maladaptive behaviors. Negativity can keep you from enjoying the positive aspects of life and increases the severity of mental health symptoms. However, you can successfully overcome mental health issues or other underlying problems by taking advantage of tools like Mindfuli. The Mindfuli app will connect you with therapists and counselors who want to help you successfully overcome issues related to mental health. To learn more about Mindfuli and how it can help you heal, call our office today at (888) 704-3004. Enjoy the benefits of a care team that goes above and beyond to provide high-quality mental health services.
