Do you tell yourself lies?

I don’t mean the kind of lies you use to fool yourself. I mean the other kind—where you know the truth, but the lie wins out, anyway. Like when I’m depressed, I think I’m worthless and undeserving of love. I think I should do everyone a favor and depart from the scene so no one needs to worry about me.

It’s a lie, of course. I have worth, and do deserve love, and if I left, there would be people who worried about me, even people who would be devastated. But that’s all intellectual. When I’m depressed the lie is more powerful.

I can sit here and remind myself of all the reasons why the things I think are lies, but the pain in my stomach and the pressure in my head and the weight on my shoulders all feel like they must be true because I feel those feelings and my mind just is like a lonely voice against the storm.

Do you tell yourself that kind of lie? The kind where you can see it’s a lie and yet you believe it anyway? What kinds of things do you say when you lie like this? Why do you suppose these lies are so powerful?