How to Recognize Negative Thoughts: An Introduction to Cognitive Distortions
If I had to pick one helpful piece of advice to print on a t-shirt, it would be “don’t believe everything your brain tells you!” The brain is a vital and fascinating organ that keeps us surviving, but it’s not perfect. In addition to all of the wonderful things the brain does, one of the brain’s jobs is to put out thoughts all day long, but not all of them are helpful, accurate, or true. These unhelpful thoughts and beliefs are called cognitive distortions.
You may also know them as thinking errors, stinkin’ thinkin,’ unhelpful thinking styles, or negative thoughts. (By the way, everyone experiences cognitive distortions.) Another way of thinking about cognitive distortions are to compare them to misprinted books. Factories print out books all day long, and there are bound to be a few errors along the way, like misprinted sentences or oddly cut pages. Here are some common cognitive distortions.
Catastrophizing or Fortune-Telling
This is what happens when you predict that the worst-case scenario will happen. “I’m going to go on this date and it’s going to be terrible.” “This family vacation is going to be awful.” Have you ever done that before? If so, then you’ve engaged in catastrophizing or fortune-telling.
Mind Reading
This is when you are assuming another person’s thoughts without enough evidence. “My boss has been giving all the challenging work to my other teammates. He must think I’m incompetent.” “My friend hasn’t talked to me all week. They are mad at me.”
Shoulds, Oughts, and Musts
This is when you create an inflexible rule about yourself, others, or the world. “Everything must be perfect!” “I must get straight A’s!” “My partner must anticipate my needs.”
Personalizing
This is when you attribute a negative outcome to yourself without having enough evidence. “My friends didn’t have a good time at the party because of me.”
Magnification or Minimization
This is when you inflate or dismiss something. “I forgot to put an apple in my kid’s lunch today. I’m a terrible parent!” “My typo messed up the whole report.” “It doesn’t matter that I was just selected for a prestigious award. I’m bad at my job.”
Knowing When a Thought is a Cognitive Distortion
Have any thoughts like these crossed your mind? How did these thoughts make you feel? I’m guessing pretty crappy. That’s because our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are all connected. Cognitive distortions are a helpful way to think about our thoughts because it clues us into how we are interpreting things, which in turn, impacts our mood and behavior. Going back to the book metaphor, cognitive distortions make it hard to read and understand the rest of the book.
How do you know that a thought is a cognitive distortion? First, I would ask you to reflect on how the thought makes you feel. Next, I would also ask you to consider if another explanation or another perspective explains the situation at hand.
Let’s take the example of the cognitive distortion “My friend hasn’t talked to me all week. They are mad at me.” This kind of thought might provoke feelings of sadness, loneliness, negativity, worthlessness, and guilt. Other logical and realistic explanations for your friend’s behavior are that they are busy with other obligations, such as work and family, or maybe they are going through a rough time or feeling under the weather and are trying to take care of themself.
Other information to consider is that your friend has not communicated any negative feelings towards you and you have maintained your friendship for several years. Now, compare how the personalized thought makes you feel versus the non-personalized thought. How does a different perspective change the way you feel and act? Just because you have a misprinted book does not mean you need to keep it.
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Written by: Sara Secada-Lovio, LCPC
Photo Credit: Mart Production, Karolina Grabowska, SHVETS Production, and Anthony Shkraba
Date of Download: 11/9/2021
Reference
Beck. J. S. (2011). Cognitive behavior therapy: Basics and beyond (2nd ed.). Guilford Press: Therapist Aid, LLC. (2012). Cognitive distortions. https://www.therapistaid.com/therapy-worksheet/cognitive-distortions
