Pessimism and Mental Health

Se Yeon
Jan 25, 2022
2 min read

Updated: Feb 20, 2022

These days, a great deal of people have a lot of stress due to various reasons. Due to these situations, their mindset tends to be altered as pessimistic, and people begin to realize several influences of this thinking to their mental health.

What is the psychological definition of pessimism?

To begin with, psychologists define pessimism as “the attitude that things will go wrong and that people’s wishes or aims are unlikely to be fulfilled” (APA Dictionary of Psychology). This means that people usually doubt their positive results that they will obtain, in the end. Furthermore, they mentioned that pessimism is one of the mental disorders, and if it’s too serious, it gives rise to mental illness. Moreover, pessimism typically develops due to external situations, such as trauma.

How does pessimism affect the brain and mental health?

According to several researchers, continuous negative thinking declines its ability to think deeply and remember particular memories. Once people think something negatively, the brain secretes more cortisol, which indicates stress. Some studies demonstrate that this stress destroys new neuron cells in the hippocampus, which is a part of the brain that is related to learning and memory.

IMG Credit: Flinders University

Consequently, it triggers more risks of dementia. In addition, pessimism is also associated with mental health. This mindset provokes depression, stress, and concern, and these cause high risks of suicide.

How to overcome pessimism?

There are several ways to prevent being pessimistic. To start off, people need to focus on possibilities. Since pessimists tend to believe more in impossibilities, their brain will be brainwashed towards these thinkings. As a result, they should believe as if they can do everything. Additionally, they need to expect more about solutions, instead of problems. Pessimists have a tendency to

IMG Credit: iStock

only recognize challenges that will occur in the future and worry about them. Ultimately, they should focus more on solutions that they will figure out to overcome particular hardships.