mood = thoughts?

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what do you guys think:

A) I'm sad so therefore i'm thinking depressing things.
or
b) I'm thinking depressing things therefore i'm making myself sad.

which comes first, the thought or the mood?

It's usually 'A' with me.

Thoughts a rationalization of a mood. The conscious mind is a puppet for the unconscious, and has been observed to present itself as the agent of actions on the part of the animal which were entirely outside of its control.

Well people have been debating this chicken-and-egg problem for centuries, and I don't think anyone knows for sure yet. But my favourite theory is that thoughts and moods are like a feedback system, and either can trigger the other. In other words, both A and B can be true. If you're depressed, you're more likely to think of sad things, and thinking of sad things can make you depressed.

I think option "A".

People feel sad because of the chemicals released in their brains...can be triggered by certain events or just by chemical imbalance.
You will only think depressing thoughts if you are sad...I mean, no one would "choose" to think about depressing things if they were happy.

But you don't really "choose" all your thoughts. Sometimes they just come unbidden. I have often thought of sad things while happy (which of course dampens my happiness). I think of it as a matter of probability. If you're depressed, the chance of you, say, remembering a sad event is greater than the chance of remembering a happy event. But either can still happen.

I do sometimes choose to think depressing thoughts though. It can be alluring to revel in pessimism sometimes, even when I’m in a good mood. Pessimistic thoughts don't affect me as much when I’m happy though.

the significance of this is that positive thinking is baloney, at least if A is right.

This is true...but, if you started to think sad thoughts while you were "happy", you must not be as happy as you originally thought. If a person was happy, consiously and subconsiously, their thoughts would be pleasant. If they were happy consiously and sad subconsiously, there is a chance that a negative thought could "sneak in" at any unsuspected time. Well...this is how I see it anyway.

There is definitely a feedback system. For people that are really serotonin depleted (or have some other condition), it may be primarily physical. But most people are 'balanced' and can shift according to a variety of things.

Cognitive psychologists, like Ellis, would say that the thought (the interpretation) comes first.