{"id":365,"date":"2020-04-06T21:16:47","date_gmt":"2020-04-07T02:16:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/psychology-resources.net\/?p=365"},"modified":"2023-03-15T14:25:15","modified_gmt":"2023-03-15T20:25:15","slug":"cognitive-distortions-ten-forms-of-self-defeating-thoughts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/psychology-resources.net\/?p=365","title":{"rendered":"Cognitive Distortions – Ten Forms of Self-Defeating Thoughts"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Cognitive Distortions \u2013 Ten Forms of Self-Defeating Thoughts<\/h2>\n
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All-or-nothing thinking<\/h3>\n

You see things in black and white categories. If a situation falls short of perfect, you see it as a total failure. A woman on a diet ate a bigger bowl of ice cream than she intended, and decided that she had completely ruined her diet. She then decided to go ahead and eat the entire carton, instead of brushing off the mistake and moving on.<\/p>\n

Overgeneralization<\/h3>\n

You see a single negative event, such as a romantic rejection or a criticism from your boss, as a never-ending pattern of defeat by using words such as \u201calways\u201d or \u201cnever\u201d when you think about it. \u00a0A depressed salesman became terribly upset when he failed to meet his quota one month. He told himself that he always misses his quotas, instead of realizing this as one not-so-good month out of many good ones.<\/p>\n

Mental filter<\/h3>\n

You pick out a single negative detail and dwell on it exclusively, so that your vision of all of reality becomes darkened, like a drop of ink that discolors an entire beaker of water. \u00a0You receive many positive comments about your presentation to a group of associates at work, but one of them says something mildly critical. You obsess about his reaction for days and ignore all the positive feedback.<\/p>\n

Discounting the positive<\/h3>\n

You reject positive experiences by insisting they \u201cdon\u2019t count.\u201d Discounting the positive takes the joy out of life and makes you feel inadequate and unrewarded. \u00a0If you do a good job, you may tell yourself that it wasn\u2019t good enough or that anyone could have done as well.<\/p>\n

Jumping to conclusions<\/h3>\n

You interpret things negatively when there are no facts to support your conclusion. There are two ways of doing this: \u00a0Mind reading\u2013Without checking it out, you arbitrarily conclude that someone is reacting negatively to you. For example, you tell yourself, \u201cHe\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0smile and say hi when he passed; he must not like me.\u201d \u00a0Fortune telling\u2013You predict that things will turn out badly. Before a test you may tell yourself, \u201cI\u2019m really going to blow it. I\u2019ll probably flunk!\u201d Or if you\u2019re depressed you may tell yourself, \u201cI\u2019ll never get better.\u201d<\/p>\n

Magnification and Minimization<\/h3>\n

You exaggerate the importance of problems and shortcomings, or you understate the importance of the positive. \u00a0A friend arranges a wonderful surprise birthday party for you, but you cannot appreciate or enjoy it because you are so focused on the fact that one of your friends\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0show up.<\/p>\n

Emotional reasoning<\/h3>\n

You assume that your negative emotions necessarily reflect the way things really are. \u00a0\u201cI feel terrified about flying on airplanes; therefore, it must be very dangerous to fly.\u201d Or \u201cI feel inferior. I must be a second-rate person.\u201d Or \u201cI feel angry, and this proves I\u2019m being treated unfairly.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShould\u201d statements<\/h3>\n

You tell yourself that things should be the way you hoped or expected them to be. You have rigid rules that you think should apply no matter what the circumstances. \u00a0\u201cShould\u201d statements that are directed against you lead to guilt and frustration: After playing a difficult piece on the piano, a gifted pianist told herself, \u201cI should have played that better!\u201d This made her feel so disgusted that she quit practicing for several days. \u00a0\u201cShould\u201d statements that are directed against other people or the world in general lead to anger and frustration: \u201cHe shouldn\u2019t be so stubborn and argumentative.\u201d<\/p>\n

Labeling<\/h3>\n

You explain behaviors or events merely by naming them. Rather than describing the specific behavior, you assign a label to someone or yourself that puts them in absolute and unchangeable terms. Labels are useless abstractions that lead to anger, anxiety, frustration, and low self-esteem. \u00a0Instead of saying \u201cI made a mistake at work today.\u201d you tell yourself: \u201cI\u2019m a loser,\u201d or \u201ca fool,\u201d or \u201ca failure.\u201d \u00a0You may also label others. When someone does something that rubs you the wrong way, you may tell yourself: \u201cHe\u2019s a jerk.\u201d Then you feel that the problem is with that person\u2019s \u201ccharacter\u201d or \u201cessence\u201d instead of with their thinking or behavior. You see them as totally bad. This makes you feel hostile and hopeless about improving things and leaves little room for constructive communication.<\/p>\n

Personalization and blame<\/h3>\n

You hold yourself personally responsible for an event that isn\u2019t entirely under your control. \u00a0When a woman received a note that her child was having difficulties at school, she told herself, \u201cThis shows what a bad mother I am,\u201d instead of trying to pinpoint the actual cause of the problem so that she could be helpful to her child. \u00a0Personalization leads to guilt, shame, and feelings of inadequacy. \u00a0Some people do the opposite. They blame other people or their circumstances for their problems, and they overlook ways that they might be contributing to the problem: \u201cThe reason I got a speeding ticket is because that cop was a jerk!\u201d Accepting responsibility appropriately allows us to improve\u00a0ourselves.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n