Challenging Cognitive Distortions
Cognitive restructuring is a CBT technique used to help reinterpret negative thoughts into healthier and more balanced ones. Adjusting how you relate to your thoughts will enhance your overall mental health and well-being.
Cognitive distortions can be restructured using 3 steps:
1. Identify the unhelpful cognitive distortions
2. Gather the evidence and/or compassionately challenge your thoughts
3. Develop more balanced thoughts
Some common cognitive distortions include…
All or Nothing/Black or White: Seeing things as though there were only two possible categories. For example, if a situation turns out imperfectly “it’s a total failure”.
Overgeneralizing/Catastrophizing: A negative is seen as a never-ending pattern of defeat. For example, while shopping you notice your checkout line is moving very slowly and you think “why do I always pick the slowest line?”
Mental Filter: Seeing only the negative aspects of a situation while screening out the positive aspects. For example, you focus on receiving critical feedback at work while ignoring your other achievements.
Fortune Telling: Predicting that things will turn out badly and that you won’t be able to cope. For example, assuming that everyone will dislike you before going to a friend’s gathering.
Mind Reading: Assuming that you know exactly what someone is or will be thinking about you. For example, an acquaintance doesn’t seem as friendly as usual and you think “he must be angry with me”.
Emotional Reasoning: Assuming that how you feel is an accurate reflection of how things are. For example, if you are feeling anxious you assume that something bad is going to happen.
Should/Shouldn’t: You tell yourself that things “should” or “shouldn’t” be a certain way. Variations of this may include “musts” or “have to’s”. For example, “you have to help me” or “I shouldn’t have done that”.
Labeling: This is an extreme form of all-or-nothing thinking that can be damaging to our self-esteem and our relationships. Instead of simply acknowledging a mistake, we say, “I’m a screw-up”, “loser”, “jerk”, “idiot”, etc.
Personalizing or Blaming: We hold ourselves responsible for something that isn’t or wasn’t entirely under our control. For example, if someone isn’t as friendly as usual you think, “I must have done something wrong”.
Guiding questions to help challenge these distortions…
1. What evidence do I have to confirm this perspective?
2. Is there an alternative viewpoint that could also fit?
3. How realistic is it to hold myself to these expectations?
4. If a friend was in a similar situation and had this thought, what would I tell them?
5. What is the overall effect of how I’m thinking?