Depressive disorders may be associated with mind wandering that strays toward the negative pole of emotions, at least when this occurs consistently. Previous studies have demonstrated that individuals who are at risk of developing clinically diagnosed depressive disorders may be especially vulnerable to experimental conditions that elicit negative emotions, like watching a depressing video. Individuals who are not clinically depressed do not exhibit this effect, and positive mood induction can easily lift their spirits. In this article, you can discover effective strategies and actionable tips to swiftly overcome a bad mood and learn simple yet powerful techniques to shift your mindset.
Mood and Wandering Thoughts
The fact that your mind can wander to either a happy or unhappy place when you’re bored contributes to the relationship between mind-wandering and mood. Individuals who are predisposed to depression allow their thoughts to wander to unhappy places where they are consumed by negative thoughts. Rumination is when someone’s thoughts become “sticky” (they won’t go away), happen frequently, concentrate on the past, and highlight their mistakes.
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The Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART) served as the foundation for earlier studies. The SART is a beautifully straightforward task that involves giving participants a lengthy and tedious task, followed by a probe to see if their thoughts stray throughout. The SART was modified by researchers at the University of Groningen to test their hypothesis that, depending on the mood that participants are instilled with prior to the SART, mind-wandering can be used either positively or negatively.
Examining the Impact of Mood Induction on Mind-Wandering
In this adaptation of the SART, participants were asked to watch, words that were presented to them and were instructed to either push a button (the “go” task) if the word was in lowercase letters or not push a button (the “no-go” task) if it was in uppercase letters. The amount of boredom was increased by the fact that there were more no-gos than gos. You can see how this might easily cause your thoughts to stray from the task at hand if you put yourself in the situation.
Researchers started with a screening sample of 249 undergraduates and reduced it to 82 in the end. Of these, 42 had high scores on the personality traits of neuroticism and tendency to worry, and 40 had low scores on both measures. Next, two interventions were randomly assigned to these groups: one was designed to elicit positive moods, and the other to elicit negative ones.
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Utilizing the SART’s real-time data, the authors investigated the participants’ emotions at different stages of the task. The thoughts needed to be “sticky,” negative, self-related, and rooted in the past in order to qualify as ruminative.
Impact of Positive Fantasizing:
The authors used a task called “positive fantasizing” to incite positive emotions in the positive intervention group. Statements about “dysfunctional attitudes,” such as “people will think less of me if I make a mistake,” were initially supported by participants. Other statements had a more upbeat tone, such as “People still like me, even if I make many mistakes.” During the induction, participants were instructed to extract one “positive life rule” and to spend ten minutes daydreaming about an encounter in a “dream world.”
Turning now to the results, the authors found that, as expected, those who are prone to worry would think more negatively off-task after being put in a stressful mood. Those with a high potential for negative affect (neuroticism and worry) experienced fewer off-task thoughts in response to the positive mood induction. As the authors point out, this finding suggests that fantasizing may be able to partially offset the negative thinking that underlies depression vulnerability due to stress.
How to overcome the situation of stress and mood
A few steps could help in changing the mood:
1) Engage in a fun activity:
This may sound ambiguous, but that’s partially because people’s interests vary so greatly from one another. According to the theory, engaging in enjoyable activities can lift your spirits by relieving stress and diverting your attention from negative thoughts. Since you are the only one who truly knows your interests, consider what brings you joy and give yourself permission to pursue it.
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2) Engage in spiritual activities such as meditation or prayer and Take in a favorite TV series or read a book:
People are frequently happier when they lead spiritual lives. You can take a mental vacation and experience a refreshment by engaging in meditation or prayer.
- Find a comfortable spot to sit in peace to meditate. Breathe slowly and deeply. Pay attention to your breathing and purge any other thoughts from your mind. With each breath out, try to visualize your negative emotions leaving your body.
Research has indicated that experiencing life through the eyes of others, such as through reading or watching popular TV characters, can lead to a happier life.
3) Locate a fun diversion and Make yourself chuckle:
Some claim that after doing chores, shopping, or engaging in other activities that divert their attention from the cause of their negative emotions, they feel happier. The advantage of a pleasant diversion is that it allows you to spend time on yourself and gets you out of an uncomfortable situation.
Laughing indeed alters your body’s chemistry. It has the power to overcome negative emotions like anger and sadness. Some examples of things that can make you laugh are:
- Speaking with an amusing friend
- Watching a funny TV show or funny video clip
- Recalling a humorous incident from your past
- Perusing humorous or satirical articles or comic strips
4) Work out like Yoga:
Moderate exercise and improved mood are strongly correlated. After exercising, the majority of people report feeling happier after five minutes. Exercise comes in a variety of forms, and any kind that raises your heart rate and releases endorphins into your body can make you feel better. Nonetheless, take into account these pursuits for a potent mood enhancer. Yoga has the advantages of both exercise and meditation because it integrates physicality and mindfulness. Try watching an online yoga video if you are unable to visit a studio.
- Aerobic activity: You can raise your heart rate and feel better by engaging in aerobic activities like swimming, jogging, running, or dancing classes.
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5) Permit the unhappy state to be:
This means that if you try to force yourself to get out of a bad mood, you’ll probably fail. At different points in our lives, we operate at different levels of efficiency, or at our best. As an illustration: Your productivity would differ depending on whether you were feeling upbeat or depressed. Don’t compare yourself to someone else by saying, “I completed a complex task that day with great efficiency, and now I can’t do a simple task properly.” You can, however, always give it your all to the extent that your present disposition permits it. For instance, if your present state of mind permits you to function at a 20 percent efficiency level, then proceed accordingly, without pressuring yourself to achieve higher levels of performance. Then you will observe how your efficiency gradually improves and this mental static (bad mood) naturally goes away without any effort on your part.
6) Move to the tune of your choice and Consume some premium dark chocolate:
Dancing stimulates your brain’s pleasure centers and provides a slight exercise boost. Tension can be reduced by indulging in chocolate, and dark chocolate’s antioxidant content may even improve your mood.
In conclusion, it can be difficult to get rid of a bad mood, particularly if it persists longer than you would like. Not only can you lift your spirits by envisioning better times ahead of time, but you can also transform your negative emotions into a happier, more self-aware state of mind.
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