Table 5 Themes and quotes of ‘The impact of mood on images, thoughts, and feelings about the future’ during poor mental health and well state

Valence

“It really affected me, because I felt like I just didn’t have any sense of purpose. I was so nervous about everything. I was even afraid everything will probably went wrong around me.” [10; female, 19, clinical PTSD]

“But now when you’re better after going through that [depression] and coming out, you plan about something. So you are really looking forward to achieving that goal that you have set in an exam for example.” [03; female, 19, clinical PTSD]

Vividness

“Blurry, definitely blurry. I didn’t know anything. I didn’t know what I wanted to do.” [04; female, 16, clinical depression and anxiety]

“Now I can think straight, I’m optimistic and I can think about the future. I’m more realistic in thinking about something than before, at least I can think about the steps towards achieving that thing, and I now know that there are a lot of challenges before achieving.” [11; male, 18, clinical PTSD]

Agency

“I had no control over what I was thinking about at that time. It just came. And slowly by slowly, I was losing control of everything.” [11; male, 18, clinical PTSD]

“It [the future] is all in my hand, so it depends how much work I put in, how much I actually really want it. Cause if I really want it, then I’ll make sure it comes true.” [04; female, 16, clinical depression and anxiety]

Structure

“I usually think of everything that could possibly go wrong and then just play it in my head. … It’s overwhelming because you just end up spiralling. There’s no positive way out, as soon as you start overthinking, you’ve almost set yourself up to spiral.” [14; female, 19, subclinical depression and anxiety]

“When I was in a really anxious day, I looked at very small things as being super long period of my life and being a massive event that was going to affect everything else. I’ve come to realise a little bit better that actually those small events are just really small in the whole span of my timeline of life. So I look to the future with more possibilities, and there’s greater time.” [07; female, 19, clinical anxiety]