The Difference Between A Mood & A Thought

Bet you never put much thought into it. I never did really, but, as you know, I’ve started that Cognitive Therapy group, which as it turns out is more like a class with lots of homework (5 chapters this week alone). One of the things we covered last week, which is in our required reading in Mood over Mind is the difference between a Mood and a Thought.

A Mood can be described by one word, but Thoughts are the words and images that go through your mind. For example, any of the following list could be used to describe a mood:

• depressed
• sad
• anxious
• nervous
• afraid
• happy
• excited
• frustrated
• loving
• tired
• angry
• humiliated
• cheerful
• proud
• insecure
• ashamed
• mad

Examples of thoughts are

• I am a failure.
• I am no good.
• She’s being inconsiderate.
• I’m being taken advantage off.
• I’m going to lose everything.
• I’m out-of-control.
• I’m not going to be able to do this.
• I’m always going to feel this way.
• Something terrible is going to happen.
• Nothing ever goes right.

I find that a lot of the time I tell the shrink that I just don’t think I feel anything anymore. I wonder how other people feel as they go through their lives each day. What sorts of emotions do they feel as they get up and get ready for work and fill up at the gas station and go about their daily lives.

Yes, I guess, I tend to feel anger from time to time at the events going on in the world political arena and then I feel kind of stupid for taking them so personally. I feel overwhelmed sometimes by world events too, by thinks I can’t personally affect or change and I get tired of reading the negativity between bloggers, parties, friends, etc.

Yet, notice how those things really aren’t personal things. None of them are anything that would change how I would go about my day much. I feel kind of “numb” inside a lot of the time where the personal things are concerned and I’ve been worried about that. Chapter Three talks about how one of the subjects “Vic” started keeping a “mood” journal because when he started therapy, he always talked about how he feared being “out of control” and he soon learned that “out of control” meant angry or nervous. I think perhaps this might be good for me, to maybe start writing down my moods occassions so that I can realize that I actually have them.

tags: wellness, anxiety, depression

Leave a comment

You must be logged in to post a comment.