I've mentioned Cognitive Distortions in a few of my blog posts, and some of you may be asking what exactly Cognitive, or Thinking Distortions really are.
Cognitive Distortions are kind of like mental traps we subconsciously fall into that enable us to believe information about a situation that is inaccurate, or not-fully true. And we are all guilty of them!
These are almost branded into the way that we think and perceive the situations we find ourselves in, and are often a large contributor in the development of subconscious False Beliefs such as "I am not good enough", "I am unlovable", "I am a failure", among others.
In this post, I am going to go through the different types of Cognitive Distortions so that you can get a basic understanding of what each one is; My next post on Find Your Light will be on managing Anxiety, and how to actively pinpoint when you're being pulled into one.
Depending on which Cognitive Behavioural Therapy or Self-Help book you pick up, Cognitive Distortions may have different names; Where applicable, I will do my best to let you know if I know it to fall under a different name, but for the most part, they are all pretty concrete. There are a few that are a little bit too "redundant" if you will, and so for the sake of simplicity, I have lumped these ones into one category, and have made a note of distinguishing between the two.
All or Nothing Thinking (Also known as Black and White Thinking)
- Thinking of things in absolutes- Seeing events, situations, or people as "all good", or "all bad
Sally is in the process of returning to University to follow her dream of becoming a teacher. There are two viable Universities in Sally's hometown. She knows a group of students from one of the two schools, but knows them to be relatively unkind, and "snooty". Because of this, Sally has made the decision to apply only to the other University. She doesn't want to get an education where the students are all stuck up.
***This Cognitive Distortion often co-occurs with...
Over-generalization
Peter has made coffee plans with his friend, Sally, who he hasn't seen in a few weeks because of exams. At the last minute, Sally sends Peter a message saying that something has come up and he will unfortunately not be able to make coffee with him. Peter is visibly upset and thinks to himself "this happens every time I make plans with someone!"
Mental Filter
- Focusing on only certain aspects of a situation or event instead of as a whole. This includes focusing only on the negative.
Sally is anxious when she realizes an assignment that she thought was due next week, is actually due today! She has barely started any work on the piece. Normally, Sally's professor is very strict in that assignments that are late, automatically lose 10% per day. Because Sally has been under a lot of stress lately, she speaks with her professor after class and lets him know that she has been going through a great deal and had gotten the due date mixed up. Because Sally is normally a very conscientious person, her professor expresses that he is disappointed in her, but that he will make an exception and allow her one extra day to finish her project without penalization. Instead of feeling relieved, Sally can't help but feel bad that her professor is disappointed in her, and she is able to focus on little else.
Mind Reading
- Insisting that you know how a person perceives you, or what they think of you, despite not having any concrete evidence of such.
Story Telling (Also known as Fortune Telling)
- Insisting that you know how a situation or event is going to turn out, despite not having any concrete evidence of such.
Peter, Continued...
Peter anxiously locks his belongings in his drawer and turns on his computer, but all he can think is how his boss is upset and how he is going to get into trouble. He knows he is going to get written up, and his boss is going to think less of him.
Catastophizing (Also known as Magnifying and Minimizing)
- Reacting to a situation or event out of proportion with it's severity.
Conversely;
Because Sally was up all night finishing her forgotten project, she was too tired to do the extra studying she'd planned for her Biology midterm this morning. The midterm in this course is worth 40% of her final grade. When she receives her grade for the midterm, she sees that she received less than a pass. Sally knows this puts her in severe danger of failing the class, but isn't too concerned. It's just school, after all!
Emotional Reasoning
- Mistaking the way you feel for a truth about yourself.
Peter is still upset about being late for work, and feels as though he has failed. But instead of acknowledging that he simply feels like he's failed because of his high standards, he thinks instead "I'm such a failure!".
Should Statements
- Allowing perceptions of how you or others believe things should or shouldn't turn out, or how you should or shouldn't feel, to have a negative influence on you.
When Sally gets back her grade, instead of acknowledging the situation as a one-off; That you can't do fantastically 100% of the time, she says to herself "I should have been able to stay up later and study... I shouldn't have done so badly on this test!"
Labeling
- Essentially, name calling, and placing yourself or others into an irrelevant or irrational category.
Peter thinks himself an idiot because of his indiscretion. His coworker thinks he's a suck-up to the boss because of his eagerness to do right.
Notice yourself in any of these? It can sometimes be hard to catch, because they are so well-integrated into the way we act and think. But now that you know them, you're one step closer to acknowledging when you're falling into one of these thinking traps!
Have courage & Be Kind
Alycia
