Change distorted thinking

Researchers have been looking at cognitive distortions since psychiatrist Aaron Beck began a type of treatment called cognitive behavior therapy in the 1960s. They have come up with at least 10 common distorted thinking patterns. Here are some of the main ones which have been identified:

· Polarized thinking (or black and white thinking): People think in extremes. With this type of thinking, you will hear words such as always, never, impossible, disaster, ruined and perfect. And it can cause people to make decisions without thinking of the impact, such as breaking up a relationship, quitting a job or moving a person from a good person to a bad person category. It can even lead to disordered eating, when certain foods are either good or bad and people create rigid dietary restraints. It can also be associated with conditions like narcissism, obsessive compulsive disorder or even racism. (Stanborough, How Black and White Thinking Hurts You (and What You Can Do to Change It), 2020)

· Overgeneralization: In this distortion, people reach a conclusion about one event and then apply that to other events across the board. An example is a negative experience when trying a new cooking device leads you to the belief that you can never use this device correctly. This has been associated with anxiety disorders such as post-traumatic stress disorder.

· Catastrophizing: People will dread or assume the worse when they are faced with something unknown. If they have worries, they can escalate. For example, if the rent goes up, a person will feel that it is impossible to pay this rent, and they will be evicted and have to live on the streets. People who have conditions such as depression and anxiety, and those who are often fatigued may be more likely to catastrophize. It is unclear what causes this, but it can be a result of experience or brain chemistry. (Some research has suggested that people who catastrophize and have chronic pain may have alterations in the hypothalamus and pituitary responses as well as activity in the areas of the brain associate with pain.)

· Personalization: This very common error in thinking is taking things personally, even when you are not connected. In this condition, a person will blame themselves for circumstances that are not their fault or beyond their control. It may also make a person feel that they have been intentionally excluded or targeted. It is associated with heightened anxiety and depression.

· Mind reading: Mind reading is when people assume that they know what someone else is thinking. In at least one study, it was found to be more common among children than adults and is associated with anxiety. It is also known as jumping to conclusions. An example is seeing someone with an unpleasant expression and jumping to the conclusion that they are thinking something negative about you.

· Mental filtering: With mental filtering, a person tends to ignore the positive and focus exclusively on the negative. We may have this when we have a few things go wrong and conclude that this is a terrible day that will only get worse. Of course, this is not only inaccurate but can worsen anxiety and depression. One research study indicated that this type of distortion has a direct effect on suicidal thinking. (Fazakas-DeHood, 2017)

· Discounting the positive: Similar to mental filters, this thought pattern involves a negative bias. They discount the positive, explaining it as sheer luck. They assume that a success is an accident or an anomaly. This can lead to a sense of no control, can reduce motivation and make a person develop a sense of “learned helplessness”.

· “Should” statements: When a person often thinks in terms of “should” or “ought”, they create a negative view on their life. It develops a thought pattern which never accepts a solution, and instead dwells on what they “should” have done instead. It is believed that these thought patterns may be a result of family or cultural expectations that might not be appropriate for an individual. This thought pattern can diminish your self-esteem and raise anxiety levels.

· Emotional reasoning: This is the false belief that your emotions are truth, the way you feel is a reliable indication of reality. Researchers find that this is a common distortion, and a pattern used by people with or without anxiety of depression. This distortion is based on your feelings. An example may be that “I feel guilty, therefore I must have done something wrong”. Or, “I feel inadequate, so I must be inadequate”. Emotional reasoning may be associated with procrastination (if you feel you will fail at something, you may be inclined to put it off).

· Labeling: When people label, they define themselves or other people to a single (and usually negative) characteristic or descriptor. It is an ugly way to describe someone, and can cause real problems between people. We have seen examples of labeling in politics as well as our own personal lives.

We all experience cognitive distortions, but we can all change our patterns. When faced with a cognitive distortion, there are steps you can take to figure out the source of the distortion, and to help retrain your brain to go in a more positive direction. Here are some steps to help change your distortions:

· Identify the troublesome thought: See if you can determine which cognitive distortion it involves. Understanding if it is your negative bias towards the event, or your feeling that you are not adequate, will help you to adjust your thought patterns.

· Try reframing the situation: Look for alternative explanations, facts, and positive interpretations to expand your thinking. Write down your original thought and follow it with three or four different alternative interpretations.

· Look at your thought patterns in the past. Did they give you a sense of control? Did they allow you to avoid taking responsibility or risks? Consider the cost of engaging in cognitive distortions. Weighing the pros and cons of the thought pattern can motivate you to change them.

· Find a time when you actually did it right! You can start by considering these questions when faced with the problem:

o Was there a time in the past when the problem was not a problem, or was less severe than it is now?

o If so, what was it like at that time?

o What were you doing instead at that time?

o Did you successfully overcome this problem in the past? If so, what did YOU do to make it happen?

· Identify your strengths: Often, we do not look at our strengths. Spend some time listing your strengths, which might then be used to address your difficulty. In this case, you might include strengths that will help you through this particular crisis. Knowing your strengths can steer you away from the cognitive distortions that insist that you are not as good as others.

· Practice mindfulness to help resolve your problems. Researchers have associated mindfulness with critical thinking, and have actually found that although critical thinking has positive associations with cognitive functioning, mindfulness might actually play an important role in preventing psychological distress associated with critical thinking. So, after working through the problems (above), practice a session of mindfulness to help relieve the stress of the situation. (Su, 2019)

· Develop an automatic thought record. Create a worksheet and split into six columns:

o Date and time

o Situation (What led to the event, what caused the unpleasant feelings?)

o Automatic thoughts (What were they and how much did you believe these thoughts?)

o Your emotions around those thoughts (What were your emotions, and how strong were they, on a scale of 1 to 10)

o Your response

o A better and more adaptive response (The most important part, where you identify your cognitive distortion, show evidence that the distortion was true, but also where it was NOT true, determined the most realistic scenario instead of the worse case scenario, and determined what was the best and most realistic scenario).

· Shift your thinking. As you listen to yourself, identify your automatic negative thinking, and work to change the words in your brain to more positive. For example, if you are thinking “should”, take a pause and reflect on that. Instead of saying “I should eat healthier”, say instead “I can eat healthier by doing these things”.

· Accept it when you are overwhelmed. Instead of wasting energy, realize that this reaction means that something is important to you. When you understand the anxiety and what it means, you might be able to overcome the stress. There may be a trigger that sparks the anxiety. If you can identify the trigger, you can act to avoid this feeling.

· Small steps: Accept the fact that you will feel sad and anxious at times. When you feel that you have more energy, slowly work toward the negative feelings to recognize a workaround.

For more examples, use the questions below when you are facing a cognitive distortion: