 Hey, Psyched Goers! Have others tried to cheer you up by saying things like, just be positive, or you'll get over it. Toxic positivity can disguise itself as well-meaning comments or suggestions. However, they may only serve to make you feel like your opinions and feelings are not valid. According to Samara Quintero, LMFT and CHT, and Jamie Long, PsiD, of the psychology group of Fort Lauderdale, toxic positivity is an excessive, ineffective, and overgeneralized happy or optimistic state across all situations. It typically results in denial, minimalizations, or invalidation of authentic human experiences and emotions. It's masking all your doubts, fears, and worries with, everything's okay, but sometimes everything is not okay. And that's fine. Though positive thinking is not a bad thing in itself, it can become toxic and harmful to your mental well-being. To help you become more self-aware, here are five signs when positivity becomes toxic. Number one, masking your true feelings. Do you pretend that things are all right when they aren't? While occasionally putting your emotions aside to deal with them later is not such a terrible idea, it can become a problem if you consistently do so. Masking your emotions becomes a problem when it becomes a repeated pattern, or when you start to feel ashamed for showing your true feelings. This behavior creates a dissonance between who you are and what you're portraying to others, to the point where it can strain your relationships and make others feel as though they don't know who you are. Making a habit of masking your emotions to the point where it becomes unconscious can lead to you losing touch with your feelings and possibly cause you health issues. Number two, brushing off problems rather than facing them. Another result of toxic positivity is when you start to brush off your problems instead of addressing them. Perhaps you were scolded for a mistake or were reprimanded for being constantly late to meet up with your friends. To avoid the emotional consequences of these situations, you might just brush off the incident with thoughts like, it could have been worse, and to busy yourself with other things so you don't have to think about it. It's important here that you don't force yourself to feel better when you don't feel that way. A poor outcome or setback is frustrating, and you're allowed to feel that way. Negative emotions like fear and insecurity usually preclude us from acting, but why not use those feelings as fuel to change by confronting your fears, you're moving and growing. Number three, minimizing other people's experiences with bumper sticker quotes. In tough times, people usually try to offer advice or comfort, but sometimes those well-intentioned statements can be harmful. According to Caroline Carroll, a psychotherapist in Baltimore, Maryland, statements like, just be positive, serve to pressure you to mask your feelings and invalidate your experiences. They plant doubt in your mind, making you feel that your emotional response is inadequate or wrong. Unfortunately, these doubts can become internalized and transform themselves into negative self-images of being weak or insufficient. Ultimately, these phrases don't give space for self-compassion, which is vital for your mental health. Number four, shaming those who don't have a positive attitude. Are you a skeptical person? Oftentimes, toxic positivity can end up shaming people who lack a positive attitude. However, there are moments where analysis and foresight are necessary before making a decision. Sometimes jumping into a choice hoping for the best is not the best course of action. At the same time, there are also some people who lack good faith and are not motivated by good will, so it's important to have a balance. It's always good to try to give the benefit of the doubt if deserved, but also to avoid blindly approaching all things in life. And number five, feeling guilty for feeling sad, angry or disappointed. A clear sign of toxic positivity is when you feel ashamed for experiencing negative emotions. While many prefer to categorize their emotions into negative and positive ones, emotions are much more complex and nuanced than that. So if you're going through a tough time, it's quite normal to feel angry, frustrated, sad, disappointed or whatever other emotion. Try to avoid judging yourself too harshly, as it may end up impacting your mental health. Did you relate to any of the signs we've mentioned? Let us know in the comments below. If you find this video helpful, be sure to like, subscribe and share this video with those who might benefit from it. And don't forget to hit the notification bell icon to get notified whenever Psych2Go posts a new video. The references and studies used in this video are added in the description below. Thanks so much for watching and we'll see you in our next video.