Found this very enlightening:
From coping.org
What are negative self-scripts?
Before we can become self-affirming, we need to learn about the
effects of negativism in our lives.
Negative self-scripts are the:
Negative beliefs you have about yourself and of which you remind
yourself daily.
Negative statements about yourself which sprinkle your everyday
conversation.
Self-deprecating remarks that influence your behavior or beliefs.
Negative descriptions given to you by members of your family of
origin or peer group when you were younger onto which you hold even
to this day.
Negative feedback you get from your spouse, boss, teacher,
colleagues, children, parents, relatives, or others that you take
personally and incorporate into your personal belief system.
Negative self-images you have of your body, looks, face, weight,
coloring, hair, feet, or other parts of your body, which as you
visualize, influence your presentation of self to others.
Negative assessment you or others have made of your competency,
skills, ability, knowledge, intelligence, creativity, or common
sense. You have agreed with this internally and, thus, believe it
true of you.
Negative stories about your past behavior, failures, or performances
that you systematically run over in your mind and which influence
your current conduct.
Negative attitudes about the possibility of your achievement of
success in your life; these influence your motivation, effort, and
drive for attainment of goals.
Negative visualizations you have of your current status or state in
life to your personal detriment.
Feelings of anger, resentment, hostility or rage you feel toward
others for real or imagined mistreatment. This so immobilizes you
that your emotional growth gets stunted and you feel negatively
about both yourself and life in general.
Feelings of guilt for real or imagined debilitating wrongs you have
committed that prevent positive self-valuing thoughts.
Negative prophecies that you or others have made about yourself,
your future, your success, your relationships, your family, or your
health; these haunt you as you face a daily struggle to "win'' in
life.
Ways in which you deny yourself rewards for your goodness, hard work
and caring by: (1) not taking time to enjoy the fruits of your
labor, (2) living in a style of self denial and austerity and (3) being
afraid to let down your guard and relax, lest you fail to achieve
your ``Big Pay Off.''
Feelings of over-responsibility with which you burden yourself. This
includes the feeling that others in your life will never be able to
fully take care of themselves and that you are "responsible'' for
them no matter what.
Dread and fear you have when facing your future; the belief that you
do not have what it takes to survive or to be successful in whatever
circumstances you face.
Feelings of failure you harbor about real or imagined mistakes in
the past and your "assured'' failures in the future.
Feelings of jealousy you harbor toward others whom you perceive (real
or imagined) to be more successful, prettier, luckier, better liked,
smarter, more talented, more creative, and generally better off than
you.
Feelings of inferiority you harbor about yourself and the belief that
no matter what you do in life, it will never be ``good enough.''
Feelings that there is someone in your life (e.g., your spouse, one
of your parents, a family member, a former teacher, a peer, co-
worker, a boss) from whom you are still waiting to receive
recognition of your worth, your goodness, your competency, your
beauty, and your overall qualities.
What is the outcome of believing in negative self-scripts?
The outcome of believing in negative self-scripts can include:
Over-dependence on the approval of others: You have an inordinate
need to receive positive reinforcement or approval for what you are,
how you act, and what you do from others, with an inability to be
self-rewarding.
Lack of self-esteem and low self-concept: You have an inability to
believe in your own worth, inability to see any value in your own
life, a poor self-image, and a lack of belief in your competency to
succeed in life.
Immobilization: A rigid belief system immobilizes you from taking
risks in life, prevents you from wanting to make a change, freezes
your feelings into a negative pattern, and convinces you that your
only role in life is to be victimized by those from whom you cannot
escape.
Negativity: Your negative view of yourself leads you to see all of
your world in a negative light. You begin to believe and act as a
`"loser.'' You see nothing in a positive light and can't be convinced
that there is a better option in life.
Pessimism: You no longer believe that you will succeed and are no
longer willing to take an optimistic position as you look to your
future. You can see only gloom and doom on the horizon.
Self-Pity: You begin to feel so sorry for yourself and how life has
treated you that you become your best ``pity party'' guest. You are
so lost in your self-sorrow, regrets, remorse, sympathy, and pity
that you refuse to be shaken or changed. You begin to believe that
no one will notice you if they can't feel sorry for you too.
Cynicism: You take a "yes-but'' cynical look at every suggestion for
change in your life. You begin to doubt in the sincerity, kindness,
and love of others who are trying to help you. You create a barrier
of cynicism to block them out, thus convincing yourself when they
leave you that they really didn't care.
The "Guard-All Shield'': You create an invisible shield, tough for
others to see or to penetrate. People will approach you and try to
get involved, but you zap them with your shield and they back away
or turn and run. The shield is so subtle that at times you don't even
know it exists, and you get confused by people pulling away from
you. This shield can take the form of coldness, wise cracking, fear of
being hurt, aloofness, unwillingness to change or take a risk, fear
of being taken advantage of, fear of intimacy, fear of failure, fear
of hurting others, or any other feeling that keeps you from
connecting emotionally with another person
Fulfillment of the Prophecy: Because negative self-scripts predict
the worst, you at some subconscious level work to achieve the worst
and succeed in fulfilling the negative prophecy of: failure,
rejection, loss, disapproval, or any other catastrophe or malady. It
is a pattern of being self-destructive with one's life.
Depression: Because of the anger, resentment, rage, hurt,
disappointment, disillusionment, and suffering you experience from
your negative self-scripting you are a ``good'' candidate for firm
and long-lasting depression. Your emotions can become so stuck,
rigid, and constricted that you can be embedded into a deep sense of
melancholy, blue funk, and loss of hope. At this stage you are a
candidate for mental health intervention before the depression
reaches a despair level and you become even more self-destructive,
possibly physically ill or suicidal.
