Challenging negative and anxious thoughts

Low mood and depression is a real problem for 50% of people with pain. Pain is stressful, exhausting and can make life miserable for you and others close to you.

Negative thinking can creep in, with thoughts such as “The future is looking bleaker”, “There’s no point in doing things” and “Whatever I do makes the pain worse.”

Confidence starts to drop and you may find yourself in another vicious cycle, which could lead to depression and anxiety.

There are different ways to help yourself and get support. These include:

• Set really easy goals to start with to build small steps of success
• Eat the right sorts of foods to improve overall health
• Get involved in enjoyable activities, possibly with family or friends
• Find out more about depression and understand how it affects your feelings, thinking and what you do
• Speak to your GP about your low moods – medication &/or counselling may help but you doctor will know the best route for you
• Visit NHS Moodzone for a range of information and self-help tools
• ‘Living Life to the Full’ is an online course to help understand and manage moods especially depression and anxiety
• Use the information sheet on this page as a guide