Cognitive Distortions

 

Mental processes can go off course in many directions. This list is from the office health center, adapted from and credited to an early edition of the book Thoughts & Feelings: The Art of Cognitive Stress Intervention by Matthew McKay, Martha Davis and Patrick Fanning:

  • All or Nothing Polarized Thinking: Things are black or white, fatalistic, extreme. There is no middle ground.
  • Overgeneralization: General conclusion based on a single incident or piece of evidence.
  • Mental Filter: Filter out positive aspects and focus on what doesn't work. Negative aspects are magnified.
  • Mind Reader: Project fears and vulnerabilities into the thoughts of others. You think you know what people are feeling and why they act the way they do.
  • Personalization: Owning more than your share of the responsibility for a problem. Thinking that everything people say or do is some reaction to you.
  • Approval Seeking: Neglect your own needs to gain approval from others.
  • Perfectionism: Unrealistic high standards even if outcome has little consequence.
  • Should Statements: Ironclad rules about how you and others should act. "Oughts", "shoulds" and "musts" leave you feeling inadequate, pressured or resentful.
  • Disqualifying Positive Feedback: Inability to accept compliments, appreciation.
  • Catastrophizing: You expect disaster. Predict negative outcomes without enough information. Ask a lot of "what if" questions.
  • Blaming: Hold people responsible for your pain or blame yourself for everything.
  • Myth of Change: Expect others will change to please you if you pressure or cajole enough.
  • Poor Me: Perceive yourself as a victim.
  • Fallacy of Fairness: You feel resentful because you think you know what is fair yet other people don't agree with you.
  • Labeling: Generalize one or two qualities into a negative global judgment.

Yes, they mostly come down to imbalance, self-focus, over-judging, negativity, and a few other categories of bias ... but they're not bad as a qualitative start!

(cf. Don't Panic (2010-11-17), Worksheets as Training (2013-04-02), NLP (2013-05-06), Oblique Life (2013-08-14), Emotional Intelligence (2015-04-14), Negative Thinking Patterns (2015-08-28), ...) - ^z - 2015-09-28