What Are Cognitive Distortions?
Cognitive distortions are negative or irrational patterns of thought. Cognitive distortions often begin to develop during childhood and are influenced by a person’s experiences in their family, school, community, and culture. Statements from trusted adults or peers, messages received through social media or TV, adverse life events or traumatic experiences, and biological factors may all play a role.
Cognitive distortions can exacerbate the symptoms of many mental illnesses like anxiety, depression, borderline personality disorder, and PTSD. Cognitive distortions can contribute to decreased motivation, low self-esteem, depressed mood, and unhealthy behaviors like substance use, disordered eating, avoidance, or self-harming behaviors.
What Are Common Types of Cognitive Distortions?
Here are examples of 10 of the most common types of cognitive distortions. You may recognize these in yourself or your loved ones. While anyone can be affected by cognitive distortions, they typically have a more significant impact on the lives of individuals with mental health disorders like depression and anxiety.
1.All-or-nothing thinking
Also known as “black and white thinking,” it is the inability to see shades of gray. Everything is viewed in terms of extremes (Hofmann et al., 2013). For example, something is either awful or fantastic. You believe you are either a total failure or completely perfect. “I cheated on my diet, so I might as well eat whatever I want the rest of the week.”
2.Magnification or Minimization
Magnification cognitive distortions occur when an individual blows things out of proportion.
For example, someone might view a small mistake as an epic failure. Minimization occurs when we inappropriately shrink something—like an achievement— to make it seem less important. Some people may minimize their strengths and positive qualities and believe they are not “likable. “When bad things happen, individuals view them as proof of their failures. And when good things happen, they minimize their importance.
3. Mind Reading and Fortune Telling
We engage in “mind reading” when we attribute thoughts, feelings, and intentions to another person, regardless of the lack of evidence. “They think I’m a loser. “In fortune telling, an individual predicts events will unfold in a particular way, often to avoid trying something difficult. “I’m going to fail the test anyway, so why study.” “No one is going to hire me, so I have to stay in this job I don’t like.” Fortune telling can prevent individuals from taking actions to shape their own lives in positive ways.
To confront these thought patterns, individuals are asked to check the facts and ask questions to challenge their initial assumptions. If we try something different, is it possible that the outcome could be different too? Are we sure that person thinks we’re a loser, or could they possibly be avoiding conversation because they’re shy?
4.Overgeneralization
When broad conclusions are made from a single event, this is considered an overgeneralization. Overgeneralization can lead to chronic pessimism and negativity about oneself and the environment based on a single experience (Beck & Beck, 2011).
For example, somebody gets a flat tire and says, “This always happens to me. I have terrible luck.”
5.Personalization and Blame.
As the title implies, this distortion involves taking everything personally or assigning blame to oneself (Beck & Beck, 2011).
This cognitive distortion covers a wide range of situations from assuming you are the reason a friend did not enjoy a night out to believing that you are the cause for every instance of irritation in those around you.
For example, “It’s my fault that the party failed.”
6.Labeling
Labeling involves defining yourself or another person entirely on one interaction or one behavior. Rather than seeing a behavior as something the individual did which does not necessarily define them. Often times we can view someone’s behavior as who they are.
Examples could be: “I missed an appointment. I’m completely useless.”
“He was late to our dinner. He is completely unreliable.”
Fact-checking and looking for evidence to the contrary are important ways to combat labeling. Have you remembered other appointments? Has he followed through on other commitments?
7. Emotional Reasoning
Emotional reasoning assumes that because we feel a certain way, what we think at that moment must be true. This kind of thinking gives emotions total control of a situation rather than the facts of the situation.
Examples of emotional reasoning could be:
“I feel embarrassed by what happened, so I must be an idiot.”
“I feel angry, so this person I’m talking to must not care about or respect me.”
“I feel guilty, so I must be responsible for this situation.”
While feelings are always valid and are “true” while we are experiencing them, feelings are not facts. Confronting emotional reasoning helps us analyze situations based on more information than just how we feel in the moment.
8.Should Statements:
Self-criticism using “should” or ” “It’s “ought” rarely helpful to chastise yourself with what you “should” be able to do in a given situation. “Should” and “ought” statements are often used by the thinker to take on a negative view of their life.
These types of thoughts are often rooted in internalized family or cultural expectations that might not be appropriate for an individual.
9.Disqualifying the positive.
When something goes right, say you get a promotion, you acknowledge it but refuse to take credit. Instead, you chalk it up to dumb luck or a mistake. Or, you receive many positive comments on an evaluation, but choose to focus on a single piece of negative feedback. This kind of thinking can hurt a person’s sense of pride and self-esteem. Anxiety is associated with discounting positive