Today we're focusing on cognitive distortion! Exercises involving cognitive distortion are very commonly recommended for people struggling with personality and mood disorders. If you've ever talked with a therapist about cognitive or dialectical behavioral therapy, this might have come up.
At the end of this post, you can find links as usual!
Cognitive Distortions
These are biased thoughts that affect how you see yourself, others, and the world around you. They are typically exaggerations of things that were actually said or that happened, which your mind twists into something (usually worse) than it actually is.
The common distortions are:
Overgeneralization
Making broad, negative conclusions that are far outside of the scope of what the situation indicates (Key Words: "always", "never", "everything", "nothing")
Mental Filters
Similar to "tunnel vision", this distortion involves focusing on small, negative details rather than the big picture, which is often more positive
Discounting the Positive
While with mental filters you may ignore the positive details, with this distortion you acknowledge the positive, but dismiss it as being insignificant or having little value
Jumping to Conclusions
Determining the reason or result of a situation without gathering all of the information first
Mind Reading
Making assumptions about what another person is thinking, or the reasoning behind their behavior
Predictive Thinking
Assuming how a situation or conversation will go or end before actually engaging in the situation
Magnification
Disproportionately reading the positive and negative aspects of a person or situation. Most typically: magnifying your own negative traits and minimizing your positive traits, while also magnifying another person's positive traits and minimizing their negative traits
Emotional Reasoning
Making assumptions based on your emotional state or gut feeling, even if the reality doesn't match up with the assumption
"Should" and "Must" Statements
Putting unreasonable demands or pressure on yourself or others. (Key Phrases: "I shouldn't struggle with this", "I/They should know better", "I must get this right")
Labeling
Assigning labels to yourself or others that make general statements based on specific situations (Key phrases: "I'm such an idiot", "They are selfish")
Personalization and Blame
Blaming yourself for a situation going wrong, or attributing other people's behavior to being your fault or caused by you (Key Phrase: "It's all my fault")
Catastrophizing
Turning a small negative situation into a disproportionately larger problem, "making a mountain out of a molehill"
Black and White Thinking
Also called all-or-nothing thinking, this is when you only see one extreme or another. Everything is given clear categories in your mind of "good" or "bad", "right" or "wrong" with no room for anything in between
You can use these two free printables to work on identifying your own cognitive distortions and working through them!
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