- "A cognitive distortion is an exaggerated or irrational thought pattern involved in the onset or perpetuation of psychopathological states, such as depression and anxiety." - "Cognitive distortions are thoughts that cause individuals to perceive reality inaccurately."
Identifying and challenging negative thought patterns that can lead to stress and anxiety.
Introduction to Cognitive Distortions: An overview of what cognitive distortions are, how they affect our thinking, and their negative impact on mental health.
Types of Cognitive Distortions: A comprehensive list of the various types of cognitive distortions, such as all-or-nothing thinking, overgeneralization, mind-reading, and catastrophizing, with examples and descriptions of each.
Understanding the Causes of Cognitive Distortions: Exploring the underlying reasons why we develop cognitive distortions in the first place, such as negative experiences, prior learning, and social influences.
Identifying Your Cognitive Distortions: Learning to recognize the common patterns of thinking that contribute to cognitive distortions, becoming aware of your thoughts and thinking processes, and identifying problematic thinking patterns.
Challenging Your Cognitive Distortions: Developing strategies to challenge and reframe your thinking, such as thought-stopping, cognitive restructuring, and reality testing, using evidence to dispute erroneous beliefs.
Overcoming Procrastination and Avoidance: Identifying the underlying beliefs and feelings that contribute to avoidance behaviors, developing strategies to overcome procrastination.
Dealing with Negative Emotions: Learning to recognize and manage negative feelings, such as anxiety, anger, sadness, using coping mechanisms such as relaxation techniques, cognitive restructuring, problem-solving, and self-care.
Improving Self-Esteem: Exploring the relationship between cognitive distortions and self-esteem, learning strategies to increase positive self-talk, and strategies for developing a more positive self-image.
Building Resiliency and Coping Skills: Cultivating skills and strategies to cope with stressful situations such as mindfulness, social support, and developing a growth mindset.
Developing Self-Awareness and Mindfulness: Cultivating self-awareness through mindfulness practices and techniques, learning to observe thoughts and emotions without judgment, and developing self-compassion.
All-or-nothing thinking: Seeing things as black or white, with no middle ground. For example, thinking a situation is either perfect or a complete failure.
Overgeneralization: Drawing broad conclusions from a single event or piece of evidence. For example, thinking that one bad date means no one will ever like you.
Mental filtering: Focusing exclusively on negative aspects of a situation and ignoring positive ones. For example, only remembering the one criticism in a performance review instead of the many compliments.
Disqualifying the positive: Rejecting positive information or experiences as irrelevant, unimportant, or not meaningful enough. For example, dismissing a compliment because the person giving it is a friend.
Jumping to conclusions: Making assumptions about a situation or someone's intentions without any evidence to support them. For example, assuming someone is mad at you because they didn't respond to your text immediately.
Magnification and minimization: Exaggerating the importance of negative events or minimizing the importance of positive ones. For example, selling yourself short after achieving a significant accomplishment.
Emotional reasoning: Believing that your feelings accurately reflect reality without any objective evidence. For example, thinking that you are a failure because you feel like one.
Should statements: Advising yourself or others to follow rigid rules or to prioritize something regardless of the consequences. For example, thinking you should always put others before yourself.
Personalization: Assuming that you are responsible for an external event when there is no clear evidence. For example, thinking a coworker's bad mood is because of something you did.
Labeling: Assigning global, negative traits to yourself or others based on a single event or behavior. For example, thinking you are a bad person because you made a mistake in a project.
Fortune-telling: Predicting negative outcomes without any evidence to support them. For example, thinking you will never be promoted because you have been passed up twice.
Mental catastrophizing: Imagining worst-case scenarios with no basis in reality. For example, thinking a mistake in a presentation will cost you your job.
- "Psychopathological states, such as depression and anxiety."
- "Negative thinking patterns reinforce negative emotions and thoughts." - "Negative schemas (or schemata) is a factor in symptoms of emotional dysfunction and poorer subjective well-being."
- "These distorted thoughts can contribute to an overall negative outlook on the world and a depressive or anxious mental state."
- "The meaning or interpretation that people give to their experience importantly influences whether they will become depressed."
- "Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)."
- "According to Aaron Beck's cognitive model, a negative outlook on reality, sometimes called negative schemas (or schemata), is a factor in symptoms of emotional dysfunction."
- "Hopelessness theory and Beck's theory."
- "Challenging and changing cognitive distortions is a key element of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)."
- "Cognitive distortions are involved in the onset or perpetuation of psychopathological states, such as depression and anxiety."
- "Negative outlook on reality, sometimes called negative schemas (or schemata)."
- "Poorer subjective well-being."
- "Symptoms of emotional dysfunction."
- "These distorted thoughts can contribute to an overall negative outlook on the world and a depressive or anxious mental state."
- "The meaning or interpretation that people give to their experience importantly influences whether they will become depressed."
- "Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)."
- "Aaron Beck."
- "Hopelessness theory."
- "Negative thinking patterns reinforce negative emotions and thoughts."
- "Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT)."