How Complaining Rewires Your Brain For Negativity

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A Facebook friend posted this article, and I highly recommend it for anyone with unrelenting depression.

Rewiring brain for negativity

I hope this helps! I can say that since I started filling my life with positive experiences and positive people, I am much better able to cope with the "slings and arrows of outrageous fortune" and am more resilient even in the face of adversity.

This article presents the same fundamental problem that all pop science presents: without reading the actual research paper, we can't know if the conclusion is valid.

The test subjects' negatively altered brains could have been caused by the suffering they were complaining about rather than the complaining itself.

Yes, it is wise not to put too much faith in a single article. But there has been a growing body of evidence on "mental wellness" that indicates we can budge our brains in the direction of being happier.

I definitely feel better when I'm with people who expressed genuine happiness and when I read things I truly find motivational. That said, I feel instantly better when I quickly complain about something and am understood. I'm not saying this is a good behavior to do all the time, but it's a quick way to blow off steam.

One thing I'd add about gratitude: the deeper I can go with it, the better. So, instead of listing the same old, tired things I'm grateful for, if I take one thing, say, the Internet or my friendship with So-And-So, and make it come alive, I feel much more grateful in the moment. Like, bringing up good memories, thinking of things I will do in the future related to the object of my gratitude, ETC.