In a world teemed with fast-paced life and the incessant stress it brings forth, mental health problems like anxiety, depression, and stress are continuously on the rise. No wonder, the millions of Americans suffering from various mental conditions have triggered a new paradigm in handling one’s emotional health.
One such powerful initiative is positive thinking, which is not only a motivational catchphrase but also a life-changing technique that not only perks one’s mental state but also toughens one’s resistance and gives one good health. The increase in positive feelings and the substantial decrease in negative emotions have allowed people to take risks in the direction of their own mental health care and in return they have noted the improvement in their life satisfaction.
What Is Positive Thinking, and How Does It Affect Mental Health?
Positive thinking is the embodiment of happiness—it requires one to keep their focus on positive things in life even when things are not going well. Thus, it is an approach in one’s mind that implies finding solutions, removing depressing thoughts to hopeful and productive ones, constructing an alternative point of view about the challenges.
In other words, it is the process of having or being in an optimistic mindset in expecting beneficial outcomes and accepting the unpredictable that a person actually makes the change.
One of the good sides of the coin of mental health has positive thinking as the most crucial factor that has a profound impact upon mental health. Research has solid evidence confirming the benefits of the influence of optimism on mental health.
Results of studies show that one is two times more mentally affected towards the negative when he/she is not of an optimistic approach towards life. While the results were most compelling when the change was the result of an individual’s examination of their self-concept.
However, the least resilient people are subject to the reversal of the equation. The findings have also outlined the fact that the weakening of health mental stage changes of the emotion of the mind, including the new developments of changes in mental health-worthy of note had positive results.
Therefore, some of the things that respondents had remained until the time of answering was (positively or negatively) included cases where subjects were being examined, i.e., their nature or events concerned were of a personal nature. Therefore, the study has also given new questions to be examined in future research on this matter in cases of a personal nature.
The Science of How Positive Thinking Can Change Your Outlook on Life
Positivity is growing rapidly, and at certain levels has wiped out negativity, the majority of people are boldly pioneering the way to a new era for happy, healthy minds and lives at the same time.
Briefly, positive thinking is the belief that our perceptions of the world have an impact not only on our mental health but also on our behavior, according to the principles of cognitive-behavioral therapy. The link between our thoughts, feelings, and behavior is direct and non-complex at most. It is, indeed possible for a person to switch from negativity to positive if his/her mind is reconditioned in the direction of positive thoughts.
The brain cells will be releasing neurotransmitters like dopamine and serotonin instantly once we get hold of something that makes us feel positive. These are peptides that make people happy and satisfied because of the good emotions they hey trigger in the brain.
This chemical process will eventually alter the result of the feelings of anxiety and depression, making us feel more relaxed and not so worried about our mental health. Curiously enough, worrying can make the brain release stress chemicals such as cortisol.
The method for completely stopping negative thoughts and stimulating a positive supply of emotional support and strength is through the conscious choice of perceiving the world through a happy prism—such a way brings about a devaluing of the disease and a promotion of the cure as well as a positive vibe and emotional harmony.
How Optimism is Shaping Human Behavior
As more and more people are learning about the concept of positive thinking, they are finding really nice ways to keep themselves in the right frame of mind throughout the day. Both the professionals and the individuals who are dealing with the issues are actually more open to using optimism as part of the mental health care protocol, this is very significant.
Is it true?
Positive thinking mastery through gratitude journaling is one of the most popular methods. Writing down what you are thankful for each day is a sure way to take your attention from what is bad to what is good in your life. This easy yet very effective habit is not just helpful but is also equivalent to the perfect mood booster, stress reducer, and self-improver.
One of the other strategies that have proven to be effective is cognitive restructuring which is also the main source of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, in short, CBT. The step-by-step for this method is identifying the cognitive distortions and replacing them with rational thoughts.
It is like an individual’s thought of “I am / she / he / we will never be successful” is changed to “I can and I will learn from such a bad experience.” Thus, the new thinking drives the person to challenge the irrational thoughts, hence, develop a belief that they can do anything and strengthen their faith in the future.
Mental health apps have become one of the powerful communication tools in promoting positive thinking. Calm, Headspace, Moodpath are just a few of the apps that use various processes to facilitate the right kind of thinking for their users. Mindfulness, meditation, and mood tracking applications have become more suitable for people who are constantly busy and could not attend to these exercises in the past times.
Positive Thinking’s Effect on Physical Health
Positive thinking not only brings positive changes to thought but also contributes to physical health. Healthy mind, healthy body. Many papers show that heart diseases, high blood pressure, and immune weakness have plenty of chance to be far from optimists.
A study on one part of Harvard University also mentioned the fact that the people with an optimistic view on life not only live longer but also have a much easier time experiencing health problems than those with a pessimistic view.
The strong association between positive thinking and better physical health can mostly be explained if we look at the fact that optimists do health-promoting behaviors much more willingly than pessimists.
It is obvious that optimists will more regularly do physical exercises, eat properly and have enough rest, the results of which will manifest better health. In the meantime, a pessimist is known to be less likely to engage healthy habits, which potentially accounts for the emergence of a set of health problems.
Furthermore, positive thinkers transfer problems into strength and ‘bounce’ back when faced with the challenge of a health issue. Their feeling that everything is going to be okay (positive thinking) allows them to cope well with their disease, diminish the bad side of the stress that their body encounters and increase their chances of improving their health issues.
Addressing Issues that Keep One from Becoming an Optimist
Dispite the great positive effects of adopting a positive point of view, people still find it difficult to maintain it due to the health complications like depression or other mental conditions that haunt them. The self-defeating recurring thought patterns may be hard to delete from the memory, which indirectly creates an optimistic atmosphere that can be achieved only through long-term practice and patience.
But indeed one can gain and build optimism. By focusing their attention whenever possible on the positive things, be it in their environment or by helping others, individuals can slowly and gradually change the way life appears to them and, at the same time, to the strength of their mental health.
The part of the helping professionals, who are qualified in, for instance, cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) techniques, are concerned, in their role you can rely on them to help banish the negative thoughts that cloud your mind.
It should be noted, however, that positive thinking does not represent escapism nor praises everything as being perfect. Rather, it’s the state where one looks at obstacles and acknowledges them while remaining hopeful for better outcomes. This is true that given the circumstance such as that of difficulty in life, through the practice of being optimistic, one gets the mental strength to press ahead.
The Future of Positive Thinking in Mental Health
First and foremost, it is evident that mental health has taken a lead in the society making positive thinking the best vehicle to change the way mental health is approached and dealt with. One aspect of positive thinking that has gained a lot of attention is the way in which neuroscientists have established that it can actually rewire the brain for happiness.
This implies that positive thinking in mental health can bring about quicker and more certain solutions by tackling the problems from the roots, rather than waiting for symptoms to develop and then focusing only on those symptoms. The positive thinking of more people will also see talk surrounding mental health take a new form where positive thinking, hope, and empowerment will be at the center of the conversation.
Finally, I would like to emphasize that the positive thinking, and in general, optimism is not one among many passing trends— it is a deeply tested method that can forever revolutionise the status of mental health and happiness.
Venturing from the positive side, one can alter their feelings for better, become stronger to suffer from fewer diseases, and alleviate their poor mental health. Amidst the prevalent chaos, optimism stands as a light that illuminates and revolutionizes the world of one individual at a single given thought of positivity.
