Positive Future Thinking

There is a research about how positive future thinking help people in depression especially those with suicidal behavior. Of course, at first I thought, Ridiculous! 

One of the many reasons people want to end their life eagerly is the feeling hopelessness of the future. They think that their life is no longer have value, where the past haunting like a crazy ghost, the present lecturing like a prickly wife and the future is too demanding like a fussy teenagers. Well, maybe my metaphor is a bit off. The point is, future is not really what they (depressed people) look forward too. They cannot see the light at the end of the tunnel. They see nothing but darkness and despair. And I talk it based mainly on my experience, not based on the theory or research. 

Hopelessness! Hopelessness is the Mistress of Darkness. It has been defined as the pessimism for the future that can increase suicide risk (O’Connor, Connery, & Cheyne, 2000). According to the previous research, hopelessness can be characterized by low levels of positive future thinking and particularly important in the suicidal process (O’Connor, Fraser, Whyte, MacHale, & Masterton, 2008). However, does that means increasing positive future thinking can reduce hopelessness? If you understand it from probability perspectives, it is not necessarily true. Is it, though? 

Our great researcher has the answer. Positive future thinking if experienced contemporaneously (simultaneously) can cause feeling of entrapment that will increase the likelihood of suicidal thoughts developing (Gilbert & Allan, 1998; Williams, 2001). That what makes positive future thinking so futile. It is like a time bomb. Mostly because people with suicidal thought or at least depressed are usually pessimistic. They may try to think positively but most of the time they do not feel positive. They try to deceive their mind and when they realised that, all hell break loose. Besides that, positive future thinking lead to high expectation that may be too unbearable for some people, to even think about that kind of expectation, let alone to live in it. Even, expectation that involved themselves only. 

I am not saying that you should not have positive future thinking. You should. It is good. But, thread that carefully, especially those with depression problem. Be very careful in the process and start with something small. Try to think something positive happens tomorrow and do it every day. Then, try to embrace everything, every feeling or fear of failure, rejection and all negative thoughts with gentle strength, like a mother whisper in the middle of the fury. We all have a darkness and demon, in a shape of negative image, feelings and thought. Do not try to deny their existence but tame it with proportionate positive thinking. Like what my psychiatrist used to say: 

Be gentle to yourself!