How To Change Your Attitude For Improved Mental Health

Your attitude, or the way you look at the world, may affect your behavior across many different situations. For instance, an attitude that’s overly negative might create mental health or relationship challenges. It’s also possible for a negative attitude to stem from mental health or relationship challenges. Understanding what’s influencing your attitude and how you might shift it, if needed, could be helpful to your mental well-being.

Defining “attitude”

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, attitude can be defined as “the particular way a person thinks or feels about something or someone” or about the world in general, which is often made clear by the person’s behavior. Many factors may contribute to the attitude you have overall or on a certain day, including mental health. 

The relationship between attitude and behavior

Again, attitude can be important because of how it may impact behavior. The social psychology principle of attitude-behavior consistency suggests that the attitude a person has often correlates to how they act, which can affect the outcomes they experience. As an example, this principle is often applied in the context of voting. The attitude a person has toward a certain candidate may predict how they'll behave when they go to the polls to vote—that is, they’re likely to vote for a candidate toward whom they have a positive attitude.

Why does attitude matter?

The bottom line is that your attitude can impact how you behave, which may have major effects on various outcomes in your life. A negative attitude might make you less likely to seize opportunities or work toward meaningful goals. It may also affect relationships, since some people may find it difficult to spend significant time around someone with a deeply negative attitude. 

Also consider the potential mental health impacts of an overly negative attitude, such as:

• Stress. A pessimistic attitude could cause stress and also decrease one’s resilience to stress, which may negatively impact well-being over time. 
• Depression. This type of outlook could also impact mental health, with one study suggesting that a negative attitude may be a mediator that links perceived stress to depression. 
• Anxiety. Research also indicates that pessimism and anxiety may be connected, potentially exacerbating each other.

Given the potential impacts of a negative attitude, working toward a more positive attitude may be a step toward improved well-being. Connecting with a therapist online may be one way to receive this type of support.

Attitude change and toxic positivity

Although a more positive attitude may have health benefits, it might be most helpful to work toward a sense of balance rather than toward having a positive attitude all the time. It can be normal to experience sadness, frustration, or other difficult emotions or to not feel particularly hopeful at times. Keeping a positive attitude no matter what may not be realistic, and this expectation—sometimes called “toxic positivity”—may even be harmful. 

Shifting toward a more positive attitude may not mean there isn’t room for the full range of human emotion or that it’s wrong to feel them. In fact, repressing emotions may be harmful to your health. Instead, having a positive attitude can be about developing the overall core belief that new opportunities may arise and good things may happen in the future, even if the present moment involves challenges.

What makes someone develop a “bad attitude”?

A “bad attitude” is a common umbrella term used to describe when a person has a negative outlook, either in general or toward a particular person or situation. Someone with a “bad attitude” may want to or be encouraged to shift it in a more positive direction. Coming to realize where a negative attitude comes from may be an important first step.

Habitual negative thoughts and self-talk

It’s widely believed in the field of psychology that thoughts may influence feelings and behavior. This principle is the basis of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), one of the most common and well-researched approaches to talk therapy available today. It recognizes that a person can develop distorted or otherwise unhelpful thought patterns—and, by extension, attitudes that may be hard to shift without the support of a cognitive behavioral therapist.

A person may develop repeated negative thoughts and self-talk for many reasons, such as:

• Childhood trauma
• Harsh cultural messaging
• A mental health condition like anxiety or depression

Over time, these repetitive thoughts may shape their outlook and attitude. In this way, a “bad attitude” may not be a personality flaw but rather the result of repeated messages or thoughts over time.

Environmental influences

Since people tend to be influenced by those around them, being around negative people may lead you to develop a more negative attitude yourself. For example, if a parent or caregiver often took a pessimistic view of life during your upbringing, you may be more likely to form a negative attitude as you grow up.

Practical strategies for adjusting your attitude

If you’re finding that your attitude is causing you distress or negatively affecting your life, work, or relationships, you might be looking for strategies to help you shift it. Adjusting your attitude can take time, but the following strategies may help.

Reframe your perspective

As CBT teaches us, the way you think about things may impact how you feel about them. That’s why changing your perspective may help you change your attitude. You may be able to start this process on your own, though working with an in-person or online therapist can often be a more effective way to imagine a new perspective. 

Next time you find yourself thinking negatively about something or someone, you might consider if there are any other, more positive ways to view the situation that are still truthful and realistic. Keeping a journal to track repetitive negative thoughts may also help you in the process of shifting them.

Practice mindfulness

Mindfulness is about becoming aware of the present moment without judgment. Practicing mindfulness meditation regularly may help you notice when you’re slipping into a negative thought pattern that may affect your mood and attitude. Over time, this habit may create more space to reframe thoughts and shift them in a healthier direction.

Build the skill of optimism

Research suggests that a tendency toward optimism may have a genetic basis, but only partially. In other words, you may be able to build optimism like any other skill, one day at a time. The following might help you in the process of seeing the world in a better light and shifting your attitude in turn:

• Believing that optimism is a skill you can develop
• Repeating positive affirmations daily
• Trying to recognize the good, even in a challenging situation

Start a gratitude journal

Research suggests that practicing gratitude may increase life satisfaction, which could help promote a more positive attitude. Starting a gratitude journal is one way to try this practice in your daily life. To do this, simply reflect on and then write down one to three things you’re thankful for each day. Over time, this type of journaling might help you gain a new perspective.

Be mindful of the language you use

Whether it’s in your thoughts or what you say out loud, the language you use in everyday life may affect your attitude. Making the effort to notice the words you use when you speak to yourself or others might help you notice where you could make adjustments to promote a more positive attitude. 

For instance, you might recognize that you often use extreme words in non-extreme situations. Softening your language may help soften your attitude. For example, instead of saying, “That was the worst work meeting ever,” you might say “That work meeting was frustrating.” Over time, even these small shifts might make a difference in how you feel.

Redefine success

Some experts posit that success is in your attitude, which means that if you expect to fail, you might unintentionally set yourself up for that outcome. Believing in your own success might help you improve your attitude and, therefore, your chances of achieving that success.

You might also consider whether your current definition of success is realistic or helpful. If you will only be satisfied with the perfect achievement of a particular goal on the exact timeline you envision, you might be setting yourself up for disappointment and reinforcement of a negative attitude. Setting SMART goals may help you focus on more realistic measures of success, which might help improve your attitude and even increase your successes.

Seek out supportive connections

The people you surround yourself with may influence your feelings, emotional regulation abilities, and overall attitude. As one researcher puts it, “It seems that the best way to regulate your emotions is to start with the selection of your environment. If you don’t want to be angry today, one way to do that is to avoid angry people.” The same may be true for positive people. If you want to have a more optimistic attitude, you might try to find people who value this type of outlook as well.

Why shifting your attitude can take time

The thought patterns that form the attitude you have toward the world are often deeply ingrained. That’s why cultivating a more positive attitude can take time and is rarely a linear process. 

Finding a sense of positivity may be harder on some days than others, and that’s okay. Most people find attitude-shifting to be a daily practice of reaffirming the type of outlook you want to have and taking steps to achieve it. For extra support along the way, it might help to work with a therapist—especially if mental health concerns may be playing a role in attitude-related challenges.

Cultivating a more positive attitude in therapy

A mental health professional may be able to help you reshape your thought patterns to promote positivity. They might use CBT, mindfulness-based approaches, or other techniques to help you address unwanted thought patterns. If mental health challenges like past trauma, anxiety, depression, or others are affecting your attitude, they may also be able to offer treatment that helps you gently shift your perspective over time.

If you want to develop a more positive mindset but aren’t comfortable working with a therapist in person, you might prefer virtual care. Through an online therapy platform like BetterHelp, you can get matched and then connect with a licensed therapist digitally. Sessions can take place via phone, video, or live chat from anywhere you have an internet connection—no commuting required.

What does the research say about online therapy?

Research suggests that online therapy may often be just as effective as in-person therapy. For example, one study published in JMIR Mental Health suggests that CBT can often be effectively conducted online.