CBT: cognitive distortions Flashcards
all-or-nothing thinking
thinking of things in absolute terms like always, never, everyone, no one
seeing things as black or white
overgeneralizations
seeing a single negative event as a never-ending pattern
mental filter
focusing almost exclusively on negative or upsetting aspects of an event while ignoring the positives
disqualifying the positive
rejecting positive experiences by insisting that they “don’t count” or explaining them away
jumping to conclusions
making negative interpretation based on very little evidence
3 types of jumping to conclusion
- mind reading
- fortune-telling
- catastrophizing
mind reading
assuming special knowledge about the thoughts and intetions of other people
fortune-telling
exaggerating the certain of how poorly things will turn out before they happen
catastrophizing
assuming the worst possible outcome, however unlikely, or viewing a situation as unbearable or impossible when it is really just uncomfortable
magnification/minimization
distorting aspects of a memory or situation by blowing them up or shrinking them such that they no longer correspond to objective reality
emotional reasoning
assuming that emotions accurately reflect the way things are
should statements
inventing rules for how things ought to be rather than focusing on the way things truly are
labeling/mislabeling
explaining behaviors or events merely by assigning a label to them or assigning a label to oneself or others
personalization
taking personal responsibility for events over which you have no control or attributing responsibility/blame to others when they have no control over the situation
“I’m such a loser”
labeling/mislabeling
“I should be better at this job”
should statements
“I feel like no one likes me, therefore it must be true”
emotional reasoning
“It’s my fault that my friends got caught smoking at school”
personalization
“I just know I’m going to fail at this”
jumping to conclusions
“I guess I sometimes do nice things for other people, but on the whole I’m a rotten person”
minimization
“My speech was terrible - I mispronounced that one word!”
magnification
“I’m positive that no one will ever want to date me”
fortune-telling
“If I start getting in touch with my emotions, I’ll completely fall apart or lose control of myself”
catastrophizing
“I’m sure she is laughing at me internally”
mind reading
“The party was a disaster since there weren’t enough chairs for everyone and some people had to stand”
mental filter
“He was late today, so I can never count on him to be on time”
overgeneralization
“She only talked to me because there was no one else around”
disqualifying the positive
“My art project isn’t perfect, so I’m just going to throw it out”
all-or-nothing thinking
