Thoughts and feelings

John, Louisa, Henry and Vera were all treated with antidepressants and cognitive therapy.

They learned about the link between the way they think and their moods.

When you are depressed you think negatively and this triggers all kinds of problems, causing the body to react with several symptoms.

Feelings are often accompanied by thoughts. Thoughts build on your feelings in any given situation.

While you need to be able to use your feelings to guide you, they can also deceive you.

The link between your feelings and thoughts

For example, you are at a party and are talking to Andrew but he's not looking at you, in fact he's looking everywhere but at you.

You react to Andrew's behaviour with feelings:

These feelings are linked to the way you think:

Cognitive treatment will teach you how to analyze your thoughts and feelings.

As such, you learn to spot misunderstandings or misinterpretations.

Learn the difference between symptoms and reality

The fact that others ignore you doesn't necessarily mean that you are boring.

However, negative thoughts are often a symptom of depression. It is therefore important if you are depressed that you learn to tell the difference between your symptoms and reality.

Example of negative thoughts connected to a symptom of depression:

Examples of negative thoughts and cognitive therapy: