Are negative ways of thinking tripping you up?

Here are a few “cognitive distortions” that can lead to unnecessarily-negative thinking and mood. Once recognized, these can be challenged to improve your outlook. Check out this video for a brief discussion on a few distortions, and see the list farther below for a longer list along with some ways you can challenge these negative patterns of thinking.

Here is a list of 10 Cognitive Distortions identified by Dr. David Burns, MD, along with ways to challenge these distortions:

1. All or Nothing Thinking:You think of things in absolute, black or white categories; no middle ground, or no other options (good/bad, succeed/fail, etc.)

2. Overgeneralization:You view a negative event as a pattern. You take one instance and assume it is a pattern.

3. Mental Filter:You dwell, focus, and ruminate on the negatives and ignore the positives.

4. Discounting the Positives:You insist that your accomplishments or positive qualities “don’t count”. You find external reasons for these and do not accept any credit.

5. Jumping to Conclusions: a. Mind Reading:  You assume that others are reacting negatively toward you, thinking negatively toward you, or have negative motives without having sufficient evidence or without checking your assumptions.  b. Fortune Telling:  You arbitrarily assume things will turn out badly, or you predict the worst possible outcome (“catastrophizing”)

6. Magnification or Minimization:You blow things out of proportion or shrink their importance inappropriately.

7. Emotional Reasoning:You reason from how you feel: “I feel stupid so I must be stupid”, or “I feel rejected so I’ve been rejected”, or “I don’t feel like doing this so I can’t”.

8. “Should” Statements:You criticize yourself (or others) with unrealistic or unsupported “should”, “shouldn’t”, “must”, “ought to”, or “have to” statements.

9. Labeling:You turn a shortcoming or event into your identity (label).  Instead of saying, “I made a mistake,” you tell yourself, “I’m a jerk,” or a “loser,” or a “fool”.

10. Personalization and Blame:You blame yourself (or others) for something you (or they) were not entirely responsible for, and you overlook ways that others’ (or your own) attitudes and behaviors might contribute to a problem.

IDENTIFY THE DISTORTION:

Write down your negative thoughts so you can see which of the cognitive distortions you’re involved in. You can also use the Cognitive Distortion list as a daily checklist to identify longstanding patterns (i.e., use it each night for a week and put a checkmark beside any of the distortions you’ve used that day). Awareness will go a long way toward more realistic and helpful thinking.

CHALLENGE THE DISTORTED THINKING:

Cost/Benefit Analysis- Acknowledge your feelings, but then list the advantages and disadvantages for nursing those feelings (like anger or shame), maintaining a negative thought (like “I always screw up”), or continuing a behavior pattern (like lying in bed or over-eating when you feel depressed). You can also use the Cost/Benefit analysis to modify a self-defeating belief such as, “I must always try to be perfect.”

Examine the Evidence- Instead of assuming that your negative thought is true, examine the actual evidence.  For example, if you feel that you never do anything right, you could list several things you have done successfully.

The Double-Standard Method- Instead of putting yourself down in a harsh, condemning way, talk to yourself in the same compassionate way you would talk to a friend with a similar problem.

The Experimental Technique- Do an experiment to test the validity of your negative thought.  For example, if, during an episode of panic, you become terrified that you’re about to die of a heart attack, you could walk, jog, or run up and down several flights of stairs. This will prove that your heart is healthy and strong.

Thinking in Shades of Grey- Instead of thinking about your problems in all-or-nothing extremes, evaluate things on a range of 0 to 10. When things do not work out as you had hoped, think about the experience as a partial success rather than a complete failure.  When thinking about people or their motives, think of them as not all-good or all-bad, but a mix of both, and identify some of the good you may have overlooked.

The Survey Method- Ask people questions to find out if your thoughts and attitudes are realistic.  For instance, if you believe your public speaking anxiety is shameful and abnormal, ask several friends if they ever felt nervous before they gave a talk. If you think someone is avoiding you, ask if you have offended them.

Define Terms- When you label yourself “inferior”, “fool”, “loser”, etc., ask yourself, “What is the definition of a ‘fool’?”  Identify ways that you do not fit that definition.

The Semantic Method- Substitute language that is less colorful or emotionally loaded. For example, instead of saying, “I should never have made that mistake,” you can say, “things would have turned out better if I had not made that mistake.”

Re-attribution- Instead of automatically assuming you are bad and blaming yourself (or another) entirely for a problem, think about the many factors that may have contributed to it. Focus your energy on solving the problem or moving on rather than using all your energy up feeling guilty or blaming yourself or others.