Unhelpful Thinking Could Be Clouding Your Perception

Unhelpful Thinking Styles (Cognitive Distortions)

In CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy), unhelpful thinking styles are patterns of thinking that are biased, inaccurate, or exaggerated, often leading to distressing emotions or unhelpful behaviors. These are sometimes called cognitive distortions. Common examples include:

1. All-or-Nothing Thinking (Black-and-White Thinking)

   • Seeing situations as all good or all bad.

   • Example: “If I make one mistake at work, I’m a complete failure.”

2. Overgeneralization

   • Taking one event and assuming it will always happen.

   • Example: “I didn’t get the job; I’ll never be successful.”

3. Mental Filter (Selective Abstraction)

   • Focusing only on the negative and ignoring positives.

   • Example: “I got three compliments but one criticism—clearly I did a terrible job.”

4. Disqualifying the Positive

   • Rejecting positive experiences as unimportant or accidental.

   • Example: “They said I did well, but they were just being nice.”

5. Jumping to Conclusions

   • Mind reading: Assuming you know what others are thinking.

   • Fortune telling: Predicting the future negatively.

   • Example: “She didn’t smile at me—she must dislike me.”

6. Catastrophizing / Magnification

   • Exaggerating the importance of negative events.

   • Example: “If I fail this test, my life is over.”

7. Emotional Reasoning

   • Believing that because you feel something, it must be true.

   • Example: “I feel anxious about this presentation, so I must be unprepared.”

8. Should Statements

   • Rigid rules about how you or others “should” behave.

   • Example: “I should never make mistakes.”

9. Labeling and Mislabeling

   • Attaching global negative labels to yourself or others.

   • Example: “I’m stupid” instead of “I made a mistake.”

10. Personalization

    • Taking responsibility for things outside your control.

    • Example: “It rained on my picnic—this is my fault.”

How CBT Uses These Concepts

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is based on the idea that our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are interconnected. Distorted thinking fuels negative emotions and unhelpful behaviors. CBT helps by:

• Identifying distorted thoughts.

• Challenging them.

• Replacing them with more balanced, realistic thoughts.

• Testing these new thoughts through behavior experiments.

How to Challenge Distorted Thinking

Here’s a practical step-by-step approach:

1. Notice the thought

   • Write it down or say it out loud.

   • Example: “I’m going to fail this presentation.”

2. Identify the distortion

   • Which thinking style does it fit?

   • Example: “Catastrophizing and fortune telling.”

3. Examine the evidence

   • What facts support or contradict this thought?

   • Example: “I’ve prepared thoroughly, and I’ve presented before successfully.”

4. Generate a balanced thought

   • Replace the distortion with a realistic alternative.

   • Example: “I might feel nervous, but I’ve done presentations before and can manage this one.”

5. Test it in real life

   • Observe what happens when you act according to the balanced thought.

   • Often, the feared outcome isn’t as bad as expected.

Tip:

Challenging thoughts isn’t about “thinking positively” all the time—it’s about thinking accurately and realistically, which usually reduces distress and leads to more effective action.