| > If your problem is that you are unjustifiably negative, then maybe chanting positive things to yourself will help. Not sure if I'm misreading you or if you misread me, but my comment was not a defense of positive affirmations. I don't believe that positive affirmations will help with the necessary mental reframing needed to combat deeper emotional trauma and mental health struggles. That said, I'm not convinced by this: > I think the problem facing most people is having standards they see others meet that they do not. If someone feels badly enough about not meeting a standard that those feelings rise to the level of a problem, then I agree that positive affirmations probably won't help, but meeting the standard isn't necessarily a panacea either. Taking your example, if someone thinks "I should be married by now", there's presumably some kind of deeper emotion behind that. If that feeling is within a normal range and the person can manage it effectively, then it may motivate them to work harder to find a relationship and settle down, but in that case it wouldn't be reasonable to call it a problem. On the other hand, if they have a stronger feeling like "All my friends are married but me. They must think I'm pathetic." or "I keep getting older but nobody wants to date me. What if I'm just doomed to be alone forever?", then this is much more likely to be problematic. This kind of feeling might motivate them to settle for a relationship that doesn't make them happy, to move more quickly than they're comfortable with, to do things that go against their own needs, to stay in the relationship even in the face of problems, etc. just to try and meet that standard. In this latter case, the standard isn't the issue, but it's tied to the deeper issue. The standard is the focus in the person's mind because it feels like the truth, but their mental framing is also biased in a way that prevents them from seeing their underlying motivation, and thus from resolving the true problem. For example, the person who feels pathetic for being the only unmarried person in their friend group likely has deeper confidence issues that won't be addressed by marriage alone, even if their partner is supportive. Likewise, the person who fears being alone forever may temporarily alleviate that fear through marriage, but they'll also probably come to fear their partner leaving them, leading only to more anxiety and distress. |