Negative Thinking vs. Negativity

Gina Psenicska is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) with Sean's House, a mental health support organization for young adults and University of Delaware students. In her practice, Gina suggests that patients who are having hurtful thought patterns "pay attention to their inner dialogue and what they are saying to themselves." She encourages them to "write down and start learning what they're thinking in situations that are challenging and hard...to be more self-aware." With this advice, Gina is helping potential pessimists to use their negative thinking for growth and to learn from it. In this respect, she is differentiating between negativity and negative thinking, with the latter having the ability to anticipate other potential, more positive outcomes, and how to achieve them.