Our thoughts lead to perceptions, attitudes and feelings that affect our behavior. Solomon said, “as he thinketh in his heart, so is he.” (Proverbs 23:7) When thoughts are distorted, attitudes, feelings, and behavior will also be distorted. Most of us use distorted thinking from time to time. Below is a list of the thirteen most common forms.
All or Nothing Thinking You look at yourself, other people, and life in absolute, black and white categories; shades of gray do not exist. When things fall short of perfect, you see them as bad or a total failure.Example: You make a mistake during one of your teaching opportunities and determine that your performance was a "total failure."
Magnification or Minimization You exaggerate the importance of weaknesses and shortcomings (yours or someone else’s) by blowing them way out of proportion, or minimize the value of desirable qualities and accomplishments. Example: (Magnification) You have one bad thought and say, "I am totally unworthy." (Minimization) The rest of the day you manage intrusive thoughts well but say to yourself, "It doesn’t matter because I still messed up."
Overgeneralization You perceive a negative trait or event as part of a never ending pattern of defeat. Using "always" and "never" to describe yourself, events, and others is one way of overgeneralizing.
Emotional Reasoning You reason from how you feel because you assume that your negative feelings reflect the way things really are.Example: You make a mistake and feel dumb so you say "I am dumb." "I feel like a failure, so I am a failure." "I feel inadequate so I must be inadequate."
Mental Filter You identify and dwell on your negative traits or someone else’s ignoring the positive ones. This is often done by picking out a single negative detail and dwelling on it exclusively. Example: Rudy feels like he needs to have alcohol in social situations because he filters out all the good social experiences he has without drinking, and instead fixates on the times he has not taken a drink and others have seemed bored by his company.
"Should" Statements You believe that you, people, and life "should be" the way you hope and want them to be. Using "should," "must," and "have to" in thoughts about yourself will lead to guilt and depression. Using these words in talking about other people and life leads to anger and frustration. Example: "I should be able to concentrate better" "My companion should not be so obnoxious."
Discounting the Positives You reject positive experiences, performance, or qualities by insisting they "don’t count." This takes the joy out of life and makes you feel inadequate and unrewarded. You may have a hard time accepting compliments. Example: Because you had to be corrected you tell yourself your effort wasn’t good enough. When complimented on how well you did, you discount your performance by saying, "Yea, but I messed up."
Catastrophizing: You predict future calamity. You also tend to ignore a possible positive future. Example: You constantly worry about problems at home and imagine the worst possible scenario.
Labeling and Mislabeling: Labeling (an extreme form of over-generalization) is when you label yourself or others based on a single flaw or shortcoming. This leads to anger, anxiety, low self-esteem, and frustration.Example: If you make frequent mistakes when reading, instead of saying "I have a hard time reading," you say, "I'm dumb."Mislabeling occurs when you use overly colorful and emotionally loaded words to describe yourself, others, or life.Example: Your companion says something rude and you think, "He’s a total jerk."5.
Jumping to Conclusions You interpret things negatively and jump to conclusions that are not supported by the facts. Fortune telling and mind-reading are two common forms.
Fortune telling: You predict things will turn out badly before they have even taken place. Example: Before a presentation you tell yourself, "I'm going to say something embarrassing and and make my self look like a fool."
Mind-reading: Without checking it out, you assume that other people are critical of you and share the negative opinion you have of yourself. Example: You see your companion frowning and think that he is mad at you.
Self-blame and Other-blame Self-blame occurs when you hold yourself responsible for an event that may not be under your control. You then feel inadequate, guilty, ashamed and depressed.Example: "I have a hard time concentrating in class. I must be a bad missionary." Other-blame is when you hold other people responsible for your problems, overlooking how you or circumstances might be contributing to them. This results in frustration, resentment, and anger. Example: "My companion didn’t tell me he was going to turn the lesson over to me, so it’s his fault messed up."
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1 This list of Cognitive Distortions is a composite of several created by David Burns.
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