03/02: Reversing Distorted Thinking

Welcome to Our Online Brain Fitness Class

Reversing Distorted Thinking Lesson

Have you ever had a bad day? And during this day, everything went wrong? And when everything went wrong, you knew it was your fault because you just can’t do anything right? And all of those people who are your friends see you only as a failure? And if you don’t do something, you will have no friends, and will wind up alone on the streets? If so, then you sometimes practice in distorted thinking.

It doesn’t have to be that way. This lesson looks at these thought patterns, known as cognitive distortions. We will learn how to identify them, and how it appears in the brain. But most importantly, we will learn some tools for overcoming these cognitive distortions. This is a lesson you don’t want to miss! You can view this lesson online (recommended), or you can click here to view/download the lesson. See the PowerPoint summary of the lesson here. After you are done, take the quiz.

The BrainHQ Connection - Related Articles

How can the BrainHQ Program help us with cognitive distortions? After reading Mary's lesson, we can see how important clear thinking and good decision-making are in evaluating our thoughts, beliefs, and behaviors related to possible distorted thinking. The BrainHQ exercises are designed to improve our speed of processing information for better understanding and more accurate decoding and responding (informed decision-making). Memory exercises help us to remember details and recall information that might aid us in evaluating situations and events with more precision and thoughtfulness. People Skills improve our social abilities in recognizing the emotions and/or moods of others, as well as ourselves. And the Intelligence exercises improves our ability to retain and apply information to more accurately assess and appropriately respond in challenging or stressful situations. All of these skills gained can help us to identify, reframe, and change unwanted behaviors that stand in the way of a happier, healthier life. Read Mary's lesson to learn more.

Distorted and negative thinking can be especially problematic for women. In a fascinating article on the BrainHQ website called Women and the Negativity Receptor, Louann Brizendine, MD, a neuropsychiatrist at the University of California, San Francisco, says “It turns out there’s an area of your brain that’s assigned the task of negative thinking.” Read this interesting article to learn more.

If this week's topic has hit a cord with you, you may also be interested in a BHQ book recommendation on the subject of Thinking Straight. Daniel Levitin has written a book on information overload. In it, he discusses the problem of navigating and processing the constant deluge of information we receive in our daily lives and offers neuro-scientific findings that may help us organize it. Take a look at The Organized Mind: Thinking Straight in the Age of Information Overload if you think you might be affected by information overload.

We can also avoid some simple occasions of distorted thinking by taking a little extra time to process information more slowly. On the BrainHQ website we found this interesting video that explains. One of the reasons our thinking can become distorted is because we often rely on our fast thinking, rather than allowing our slow thinking to process and analyze the information we receive before jumping to conclusions. Here's what the website says: "Our fast thinking system is responsible for our intuitive, impressionistic thoughts, and the slow thinking system is responsible for our deliberate, effortful thinking." In a related book, Thinking, Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman explains how "our slow system often gets overruled by our fast system—even at the expense of logic and (sometimes) success and happiness." Very interesting!

Zoom Session

Zoom Session: We will be having our online Zoom session this week, on Wednesday evening, March 4th, from 6:30 to 7:30 pm. In the first half-hour we will answer questions about the exercises or BHQ website. Then, at 7:00 we will talk about the weekly lesson, share BHQ experiences, and review the Power Point presentations. We will be live at 6:30 for individual questions or to demonstrate, live, any exercise you may have questions about.

Zoom Instructions: Just follow the instructions on the Home Page or click here to view a video that will help you.

If you are a returning student to Zoom, you can click here for a direct link to zoom.

Here's the schedule of events and live links:

6:30 - 7:00 Q&A about exercises, websites or lessons

7:00 - 7:30 Basics Lesson on People Skills

7:30 - 8:00 Topics Lesson on Reversing Distorted Thinking

If it’s your first time participating in a Zoom session, you can try it by getting on the site early to see how easy it is to get it set up. We begin our first BHQ Lesson at 6:30, so try getting on at about 6:15-6:30 and call Pat (at the number below) if you have any trouble. You can participate by video and audio, or just listen in by phone. Please let us know if you need help!

Enjoy the exercises and have a brain-healthy week.

Contact Us

Need help? Contact us at:

Pat Mosteller (pmostell@sdccd.edu) Cell 619-818-3953 - Online classes

Mary Burns (mburns@sdccd.edu) - Online classes

Debbie Flores (dsflores@sdccd.edu) - Cell 619-608-9001 --Online classes & Wednesday AM and PM classes at the Kroc Center

Janet Blair ( blusdbits@gmail.com ) - St Pauls Plaza. Contact for Support and Lesson Review

Yael Lorberfeld (ylorberfeld@sdccd.edu) . Mondays at the Kroc Center, Wednesdays at the College Ave Senior Center (Temple Emanu-El), and Friday mornings at the La Jolla JCC.

Marilyn Kessler (marilynk@ifssd.org) - Mondays at the College Ave Senior Center (Temple Emanu-El)