The monster of these ideas takes on a life of its own, popping into consciousness, criticizing and harassing you. Many of the messages are personal criticisms, such as, “You’re so weak, you can’t succeed without God’s help,” “You don’t matter to anybody,” and “You’re stupid.” Other negative thoughts can be about other people, life, the world, and the future. They also tend to be over-generalized and extreme, for example: “Life has no meaning anymore without God,” “There’s no such thing as real love; people are too selfish,” and “The world is dangerous.” Research has shown that this kind of
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