Tuesday, November 7, 2023

Five More Common Cognitive Distortions


An abstract vertical photo featuring a front side door car window from the inside looking out at night during a rain storm. Rain drops cover the window creating a blurry and distorted effect when paired with the street lamps and headlights outside. Rain drops cover the window creating a blurry and distorted effect when paired with the street lamps and headlights outside.
Rain drops cover the window creating a blurry and distorted effect when paired with the street lamps and headlights outside. Click image to license. © Evan's Studio

 Cognitive distortions are unhelpful ways of thinking that can make us feel bad about ourselves and others. Identifying these destructive thought patterns is the first step in addressing them. After you have identified your thought as a cognitive distortion, you can work on replacing it with a more rational explanation. Writing down your automatic thoughts, cognitive distortions, and rational responses under three different columns is known as the triple column technique advocated by Dr. David D. Burns.

Five More Common Cognitive Distortions

  1. Should Statements: You tell yourself "I should be doing this or that" for motivation. These types of thoughts can make you feel pressured, guilty and shameful. When directed at others eg. "he should get his act together" these statements can make you feel frustrated and angry.

  1. Emotional Reasoning: You conflate your feelings with the truth. For example, you feel a certain way so you believe that it must be the truth.

  2. Magnification: You magnify the importance of negatives. For example, you tell yourself that you will never be able to become a doctor after getting a C on a chemistry exam.

  3. Labeling: Labeling is an extreme type of overgeneralizing and oversimplifying. For instance, you tell yourself "I'm a complete loser" after missing the game winning shot at the basketball game instead of "I missed the shot".

  4. Personalization: You blame yourself for a negative event which you were not responsible for. This can lead to feelings of guilt. For example, after you weren't able to sell a house, you tell yourself "I must be a terrible real estate agent. It is my fault that they didn't decide to buy the house." 

    To see the first five cognitive distortions click here to read my previous blog post.