CBT: cognitive distortions

Question 1

all-or-nothing thinking

Answer 1

thinking of things in absolute terms like always, never, everyone, no one
seeing things as black or white

Question 2

overgeneralizations

Answer 2

seeing a single negative event as a never-ending pattern

Question 3

mental filter

Answer 3

focusing almost exclusively on negative or upsetting aspects of an event while ignoring the positives

Question 4

disqualifying the positive

Answer 4

rejecting positive experiences by insisting that they “don’t count” or explaining them away

Question 5

jumping to conclusions

Answer 5

making negative interpretation based on very little evidence

Question 6

3 types of jumping to conclusion

Answer 6

1. mind reading
2. fortune-telling
3. catastrophizing

Question 7

mind reading

Answer 7

assuming special knowledge about the thoughts and intetions of other people

Question 8

fortune-telling

Answer 8

exaggerating the certain of how poorly things will turn out before they happen

Question 9

catastrophizing

Answer 9

assuming the worst possible outcome, however unlikely, or viewing a situation as unbearable or impossible when it is really just uncomfortable

Question 10

magnification/minimization

Answer 10

distorting aspects of a memory or situation by blowing them up or shrinking them such that they no longer correspond to objective reality

Question 11

emotional reasoning

Answer 11

assuming that emotions accurately reflect the way things are

Question 12

should statements

Answer 12

inventing rules for how things ought to be rather than focusing on the way things truly are

Question 13

labeling/mislabeling

Answer 13

explaining behaviors or events merely by assigning a label to them or assigning a label to oneself or others

Question 14

personalization

Answer 14

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

Question 15

“I’m such a loser”

Answer 15

labeling/mislabeling

Question 16

“I should be better at this job”

Answer 16

should statements

Question 17

“I feel like no one likes me, therefore it must be true”

Answer 17

emotional reasoning

Question 18

“It’s my fault that my friends got caught smoking at school”

Answer 18

personalization

Question 19

“I just know I’m going to fail at this”

Answer 19

jumping to conclusions

Question 20

“I guess I sometimes do nice things for other people, but on the whole I’m a rotten person”

Answer 20

minimization

Question 21

“My speech was terrible - I mispronounced that one word!”

Answer 21

magnification

Question 22

“I’m positive that no one will ever want to date me”

Answer 22

fortune-telling

Question 23

“If I start getting in touch with my emotions, I’ll completely fall apart or lose control of myself”

Answer 23

catastrophizing

Question 24

“I’m sure she is laughing at me internally”

Answer 24

mind reading

Question 25

“The party was a disaster since there weren’t enough chairs for everyone and some people had to stand”

Answer 25

mental filter

Question 26

“He was late today, so I can never count on him to be on time”

Answer 26

overgeneralization

Question 27

“She only talked to me because there was no one else around”

Answer 27

disqualifying the positive

Question 28

“My art project isn’t perfect, so I’m just going to throw it out”

Answer 28

all-or-nothing thinking