FWIW, when I was very young (and surrounded by adults with various behavioral issues) I concluded that if my brain could influence my thoughts, then my thoughts

FWIW, when I was very young (and surrounded by adults with various behavioral issues) I concluded that if my brain could influence my thoughts, then my thoughts could influence my brain. i.e., if I worked through something mentally, I could improve my mood or deal with adversity or grief or melancholy or the occasional bout of really bad depression. That's worked out well for me as a sort of first line of defense, but it has side effects too. I've been seeing a therapist for most of a year now to try to unwind some of it, because unfortunately the same mechanisms that repress something like anxiety also repress love or joy. And I'd never recommend it to anyone else. For one thing, I haven't even been able to decide for myself if it's just a bunch of self-delusion or not; I'd have no idea how to go about suggesting someone else try it.