Repetitive negative thinking associated with cognitive decline in older adults

Posted by redbell 9/14/2025

Repetitive negative thinking associated with cognitive decline in older adults(bmcpsychiatry.biomedcentral.com)

531 points | 243 commentspage 2

bloomingeek 9/14/2025|

Realizing there are many variables in life, I'll chime in. I'm in my late sixties and catch myself everyday complaining to myself. Things are harder to do, my memory isn't shot, but is not quite as sharp and the old body is, well, not as responsive.

Having said all this, I don't let it get to me because I knew all this was coming as I became more "senior". All things being even, we do have the power to control our thoughts and should. Hope is a much overlooked word these days. People we know, family and not looking for trouble can help us stay hopeful. Unfortunately not everyone has family or their living condition may not be ideal, this is when community is very helpful. If I may say, if you know an older person who you wonder about, ask them what's going on.

Dumblydorr 9/14/2025|

We can’t control our thoughts though, right? They just pop up, appearing randomly. We can control our attention and train ourselves not to get onboard trains of thought though. But I think it’s important to acknowledge thoughts randomly crop up and it’s not our fault.

natnatenathan 9/14/2025||

My personal belief is that we can’t control every thought, but we can make sure we’re in a positive feedback loop instead of a negative one. For example, when I am getting negative, I’ve learned to take a step back and try to figure out why. If I can’t get myself in a better mood, I go to bed early and generally wake up happier. I also try to structure my days to make time for the things that make me happier (exercise, eating well, friends, family, hobbies) and cut out things that make me feel more negative (social media, news, sugar, etc). Not perfect, but it helps.

bryanrasmussen 9/14/2025||

cognitive decline is also associated with stress. So if you have a lot of stress in your life you will probably suffer cognitive decline. Also if you have a lot of stress in your life you will probably be a pretty negative person.

FullKirby 9/14/2025||

Vaguely related video on a similar topic : https://youtu.be/tfbM6vYsW9g?si=yfZ3WQ9iHB2rNnba

modeless 9/15/2025||

I recently saw this quote that I think is applicable:

"I've noticed a very strong correlation between being very bad at predicting the future, and worrying a lot about the future"

leke 9/15/2025||

Repetitive negative thinking was a symptom of my undiagnosed ADHD. Getting diagnosed and medicated took away the repetitive negative thinking, or as I called it ruminating negative thought patterns.

wkat4242 9/15/2025|

I really wish I could get diagnosed too. My psychiatrist refuses to even consider it because she says with my psych history as a kid they'd have identified it. But that's nonsense because thinking some adhd has changed hugely since the 80s. You needed to be rain man to be seen as autistic. And adhd was only diagnosed for loud obnoxious kids. My psychiatrist is also very old and kinda clings to those definitions.

But because of this I'm locked out of medication :'(

I'm very typical of both though. AuDHD.

jurschreuder 9/15/2025||

Almost as if people who have a better life are happier, if you believe this study it almost seems like feelings are somehow related to the external world

untrimmed 9/14/2025||

Is it possible that we're just better at reporting our negative thoughts, not that we have more of them? Or is overthinking the price we pay for analyzing everything?

EVa5I7bHFq9mnYK 9/14/2025|

I think there is not a single person on Earth without repetitive negative thoughts.

rzzzt 9/14/2025||

In... mice? Nay, this time it is adults over the age of 60.

narrator 9/14/2025||

The reverse causation here is obvious. It's perfectly normal to be depressed about losing one's cognitive faculties.

LorenPechtel 9/14/2025|

And even if it isn't depression per se it might very well be a symptom of the mind starting to slip.

dubegerrie 9/15/2025|

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