![]() In your mind, you become the most forgetful, unreliable, disorganized person there is! With a lot of things on your mind, you forgot. Or you’re able to minimize the situation and your positive qualities.įor example : You agreed to pick up milk on your way home from work. Your special magnifying glass can magnify an issue, making it bigger than it really is. You often interpret an action or response and conclude that you’re not liked or that someone is angry with you.įortune-telling example: You already know you’re going to struggle with something before it has even started Mind reading example: You seem to know exactly how someone is thinking. How often have you jumped to a conclusion based on a feeling or thought without any evidence to support it? You often feel inadequate or unappreciated because you ignore positive experiences.įor example : You sang beautifully on stage but told yourself it wasn’t good enough. All you thought about was that one “negative” statement while ignoring all the other positive feedback. One form noted that you could have managed the time better. 19 of the forms were filled with positive statements about you and your work. Of all the things going well, you pick one negative detail out and focus all your attention on it.įor example: You received 20 feedback forms after facilitating a workshop. Your automatic response is, “I’ll never find someone to go out with me.” These thoughts are upsetting and set up a cycle of defeat.įor example: You’ve asked someone out on a date, and they say no. Or you want something to happen, and when it doesn’t, you believe it “never” happens to you. One thing happens, and you believe that it “always” happens to you. You berate yourself for not being perfect and tell yourself, “I’ve blown it, I might as well just eat the whole pie! I’m such a failure!” And then, you have a sliver of apple pie. If things aren’t perfect, you see them as a failure.įor example: You started a new diet, and for the first few days, you’re eating according to plan. While there are other therapists and researchers who have contributed to the development of Cognitive Distortions, the following 10 are the most common ones.Īs you read through each distortion, notice if you find yourself defaulting to one or more of them. His goal with this approach was to guide patients into changing deeply held negative beliefs about themselves and the world, manage their depression, anxiety, and mental health issues, and take back control of their lives. So, he wondered if his patients could learn to recognize their thought distortions and challenge them in order to heal.Īs a result, he created a new therapy called Cognitive Behavioral Therapy or CBT. “They are irrational thoughts and beliefs that we unknowingly reinforce over time,” he says. Beck saw that his patients focused on distortions that were faulty and misinformed, which led to overwhelmingly negative feelings and conceptions in their life. These patterns are called “Cognitive Distortions” or “Distorted Thinking”.ĭr. As he met with his patients and allowed them to talk freely about their depression and struggles, he began to see 10 different types of negative thinking emerge. The 10 most common negative thinking patternsĪaron Beck, a US psychiatrist, recognized that there were specific patterns to negative thinking. If you’ve struggled with depression, stress, or anxiety, you understand how difficult it is to turn those negative thoughts into more positive ones. ![]() Today in modern society, we don’t have to worry about our survival in the wild, but we often find ourselves overly stressed and anxious about life. This likely dates back to primal times when humans had to be on high alert for wild animals and anticipate danger or threats - our survival depended on it! It’s natural for our minds to search for the negatives. We can’t help but think of only the worst. Negative thinking was a survival techniqueĪll of us have moments where we think the worst and jump to conclusions, even when logic might show us no evidence that something bad will happen. If you’re constantly defaulting to negative conclusions, you may be suffering from negative thinking patterns in your thought process. Maybe you’re constantly worrying about “what-ifs” or start feeling anxious about the possibility of something bad happening, even when there is no real reason for you to feel that way. Healthy Boundaries and Effective CommunicationĪre you your own worst enemy? Do you find yourself getting bogged down by negative thoughts that seem to take over your mind, no matter how optimistic your circumstances seem?.
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