Curious Thinker Psychology

Cogni-what?

Cognitive distortions are errors in the thinking process, very similar to the concept of logical fallacies. However, where logical fallacies are used in logic and rhetoric, cognitive distortions are used in psychology. They can lead to depression and anxiety, so working to eliminate these negative thoughts can improve our mood.

So tell me what they are, then!

1. All-or-Nothing: Seeing things in binary instead of on a spectrum. "I have to get all the answers right on the test, or else I’m a total failure!"
2. Overgeneralization: Perceiving a single negative event as a never-ending pattern
3. Mental filter: Picking out and dwelling on a single negative feature/event while clouding out the majority of positive features/events
4. Disqualifying the positives: Rejecting and discounting positive experiences by insisting they were a fluke, that it didn’t count, or any number of arbitrary reasons
5. Jumping to conclusions: Interpreting a negative conclusion without sufficient, objective facts to support your conclusion
• Mind reading: Believing one can read the thoughts of another without checking how the other person feels
• Fortune Telling: Predicting a negative outcome, and feeling as though this conclusion is already established.
6. Magnification (catastrophizing) or minimization: The proverbial "making a mountain out of a molehill." Essentially, exaggerating the significance of shortcomings or minimizing the importance of strengths.
7. Emotional reasoning: Assuming because you feel a certain way, it’s true. "I feel X, therefore I am X"
8. "Shoulding": Having rigid rules or expectations of how things should or should not be. "Must" and "ought" also apply. When directed towards yourself, it results in guilt; when directed towards others it ends in anger and frustration.
9. Labeling and mislabeling: This distortion is a combination of overgeneralization and all-or-nothing thinking. Instead of describing a specific problem, a negative label such as “loser” is thought of. Mislabeling is describing an event or feature using emotionally charged language.
10. Personalization: Holding yourself personally accountable for actions not entirely under your control.

So there you have it; ten common cognitive distortions. Can you identify with any of these or notice any re-occurring distortions in your life? Let me know in the comments!

In an upcoming article, I’ll cover cognitive restructuring, which is the process of learning to identify and dispute these negative patterns.