Optimism and hope influence general outlook towards life and specific events and coping mechanisms by extension. Optimism refers to a trait of the positive expectations towards the future, and pessimism is the opposite. Hope, on the other hand, is the expectation that the chances of an outcome will be greater than zero. Positive expectations and hope tend to make people more proactive and deal with adversity with confidence. Pessimism, on the other hand, creates a feeling of a loss of control, and the person gives up quickly when faced with challenges. Anxiety and depression are adversities, and a positive attitude of optimism and hope can help deal with the problem and limit mental health symptoms of the two conditions.
Optimism
Optimism is a trait that explains positive expectations for the future. Pessimism, on the other hand, is having negative expectations or expecting bad things to happen. Studies show that determinants of optimisms are nature and nurture. Twins tend to share levels of optimism to a given extent, suggesting that genetic factors play a crucial role in shaping a generally positive outlook.
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On the other hand, nurture is essential, as previous experiences shape the level of optimism. A history of positive experiences increases the level of positive expectations. Moreover, parenting matters, with parents who use adaptive coping tactics, model their children to take a similar attitude.
The optimism stems from expectancy-value theories that assume goals determine behavior. If the goals are desirable, people will adapt their routines to attain them or distance themselves if not. Also, if the goal is valuable, a person is likely to put the effort and attention needed to succeed. Another factor is the confidence a person has that those goals are attainable. If the confidence is high, then optimism and effort invested towards the attainment of the goal increases in tandem. Difficulties or challenges are unlikely to deter a person with a high level of confidence in attaining the goals. However, on the other hand, if they doubt the chances of achieving their goals, they might withdraw or never take action.
The expectancy varies and can be applied in narrow or broader contexts. Expectancy theory argues that people make good forecasting in a situation to determine the kind of response required. The forecasting could be about the level of effort required to attain a specific goal or the chances of achieving that goal. In situations where people do not have experiences, they tend to use generalized expectations. In the face of adversity, optimistic people remain confident they can handle the situation given enough time and spend the right kind of effort and resources. Pessimistic people, on the other hand, show doubt and even expect failure in an adverse situation. The general attitude towards the outcome of a case given a challenge determines the coping behaviors employed.
Expectancies can be measured by inspecting attributional styles, which assume that experiences shape their expectations about the future or asking them whether they expect good or bad outcomes in the future. Pessimistic people tend to think of past failure events as stable, global, and internal to the self, while optimistic people are likely to view adverse events as unstable, specific, ineffective, and external to the self. A tool such as the Life Orientation Test (LOT) can help identify people’s expectations about the future.
Hope
Hope is the expectation of achieving something rather than nothing. It reflects the perception of the goal attainment, given the prevailing circumstances such as challenges. The goal that a person is pursuing should be worthwhile or essential and attainable. It is a combination of goal-directed determination and planning to meet those goals. A hopeful attitude is not just about mental will power but also the power to achieve those goals. There is an expectancy that something positive will come out of an activity, and the result is perceived capability increases as well as goal-directed behavior. Hope is, therefore, intimately linked with the goal-directed behavior critical in achieving any task.
Hope has three components, namely, pathways thinking, agency thinking, and goals. A goal is a cognitive component and is the thing a person wishes to achieve. The goal could be short term or long term, concrete or vague, very important or not so important. The effort to achieve a goal varies, with some being more difficult than others are. Once the goal is set, the next thing is to plan how to achieve those goals. The plan starts in mind through engagement with the details of the goals and the contemplation. During this process, a person maps out the actions needed to achieve a goal.
Planning is essential, as already discussed, but not all plans succeed. In the context failure, hope is a critical component of success, allowing the person to generate various strategies to overcome barriers. Depending on the mental status of a person, where positive or negative, hopeful or not, a person may develop ways to reach this or her goals and change mentality to fit the specific needs of the attaining the overall objective. Hope theory suggests that high and low pathways and agency thinking are vital for goal-directed activity. Being high in an agency but low in pathway might lead to failure, and the converse is true.
Hope and optimism limit mental health
Hope and optimism determine response to adversity. An optimistic person expects things to work out in the end, and that provides a strong incentive to take proactive action to address the source of adversity. If the difficulty is sickness or a setback in business, the coping could take the form of looking for medical intervention, complying with professional advice, or changing businesses. The response is positive. A hopeful mindset also positively influences coping mechanisms, making the person more amenable to taking concrete steps to deal with adversity and stay on course. Also, a confident mindset allows a person to change the mind in response to an evolving reality.
On the other hand, pessimism, and lack of hope creates a paralysis. Instead of taking proactive steps to deal with the problem, a person believes he cannot deal with the current adversity in a meaningful way. Moreover, he might also think that even after investing time and effort to address the problem, the chances of success are less than zero. In other words, there is no hope for success. If the source of adversity is a disease, then the person might fail to take medication or medical intervention, and in the case of business failure, he might give up running a business altogether and try something else. The coping mechanism is more about quitting and running away from the stressor, but often, doing that is rarely the right solution.
Anxiety and depression are mental health issues whose symptoms are debilitating depending on the severity. Anxiety is a feeling of excessive nervousness, fear, apprehension, and worry. The emotion is normal, but it becomes problematic in extreme cases. Generalized anxiety disorder, for instance, can cause panic attacks in social situations. The expectation in the mind of the person is that a bad thing is likely to happen, which is the typical thinking of an optimistic person. Optimistic thinking, which links past positive outcomes to the chances of a positive outcome in the future, can deal with the symptoms of anxiety to some extent. Moreover, hope is important for such a patient as he or she might decide to seek medical attention. Anxiety is a treatable condition via drugs and therapy.
Depression, on the other hand, if a condition characterized by a feeling of sadness, feeling down, and having a loss of interest in activities that previously gave pleasure. Changes in mood are part of a healthy life, but in some situations, the low mood might persist in which case the issue becomes depression. Optimism might again help deal with the condition by taking proactive steps to deal with the issue. If the source of depression is a loss of a loved one, the person might decide to go for counseling to help deal with the issue. Some engage in strenuous activities to forget the problem as a coping mechanism. However, for a pessimistic person, signs of depression might trigger a downward spiral due to the twisted thinking that the issue is a fundamental flaw that is impossible to overcome.
