![]() ![]() You receive a compliment and tell yourself the person didn’t really mean the nice thing they said It’s called disqualifying the positive and it involves rejecting positive things. This cognitive distortion is similar to mental filtering. It might even help to make a list of all the feedback points yourself, so you can practice focusing on the positives. Rather than just re-reading the one critique in your feedback, re-read the entire feedback and reflect on the positives, too. Try to value the positive aspects as much as you value the negative aspects. ![]() With this type of cognitive distortion, you ignore all the positive aspects of a situation and focus on the one negative aspect of the situation.įor example, if you receive feedback at work which says you’re a great team player, you have wonderful initiative, you have creative ideas and you could work on being more punctual, you might focus solely on the fact that your boss said you should be more punctual and ignore all the other positive feedback. Try to treat events in isolation – remind yourself that just because something happened once, it doesn’t mean it will happen again. No one will ever love me” could become “My boyfriend broke up with me, but there are people in my life who love me”. Try re-framing your thought into something more positive or helpful. Notice when you’ve made an overgeneralisation and ask yourself – is it actually true? I won’t ever have a nice garden because everything will die. It can cause you to feel hopeless and might stop you from trying to learn and grow. Overgeneralisation involves seeing a constant, negative and never-ending pattern as a result of one event. Technology never works right for me.” Rather than recognising that just one computer isn’t working, you make the claim that all technology doesn’t work for you. Let’s imagine you’ve just sat down at work and your computer won’t turn on. How can I practice implementing a middle ground? Is there a less extreme way I can think about this? Is there a middle ground that might be more appropriate? Am I being too inflexible in my thinking? Tips for managing all-or-nothing thinking Looking at yourself in black or white terms can cultivate low self-esteem (because your standards are so high – you’re either “perfect” or a “failure”) and fears of not being good enough. ![]() I missed one gym session, so I’ll give up on exercise for the weekĪll-or-nothing thinking tends to be extreme and as a result, it can stimulate anxiety. I made a mistake because I’m a bad person I didn’t get the promotion, so I might as well quit my job I answered one question wrong, so I’m a failure Some examples of all or nothing thinking include: Something is either good or bad, right or wrong there’s no room for middle ground. With this type of cognitive distortion, you see certain things in black or white categories. I’ll also share some simple tips on how to recognise and re-frame cognitive distortions! Let’s take a look at some common cognitive distortions and how they might be fuelling your anxiety. Dr David Burns also did a TED talk called Feeling Good, in which he explained some great examples of distorted thinking and how he encouraged his clients to challenge those thoughts. He believed that if his patients could change those inaccurate thoughts (cognitive distortions) they would be able to change their symptoms of depression.īeck’s student, Dr David Burns, continued the research on cognitive distortions and popularised the concept with his book called Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy, in which he shared common examples of cognitive distortions. He noticed that many of his patients who experienced depression were relying on false assumptions and errors in thinking. In the 1970s, psychologist Aaron Beck proposed the theory of cognitive distortions. However, there are some simple ways you can recognise and manage cognitive distortions so they’ll be less likely to negatively impact your mental health.įirst, let’s take a look at how the concept of cognitive distortions came about. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with you if you notice yourself engaging in distorted thinking! Our brains like patterns and shortcuts and simple errors in thoughts are bound to occur now and then. In this article, you’ll learn some of the common cognitive distortions and how you can re-frame them into more helpful, meaningful and realistic thoughts.Įven though cognitive distortions can seem confusing or confronting, it’s important to remember that we all experience them at times. It can be difficult to recognise cognitive distortions and so we tend to believe they are true, which can sometimes fuel anxiety. Cognitive distortions are inaccurate or false assumptions about ourselves and the world around us. ![]()
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