17 Typical Cognitive Distortions

17 Typical Cognitive Distortions ===================== Cognitive distortions are simply ways that our mind convinces us of something that isn’t really true. These inaccurate thoughts are usually used to reinforce negative thinking or emotions - telling ourselves things that sound rational and accurate, but really only serve to keep us feeling bad about ourselves. l. Mind reading You assume that you know what people think without having sufficient evidence of their thoughts "He thinks I'm a loser." 2. Fortune-telling You predict the future—that things will get worse or that there is danger ahead "I'll fail that exam," "l won't get the job." 3. Catastrophizlng You believe that what has happened or will happen will be so awful and unbearable that you won't be able to stand it "It would be terrible if I failed." 4. Labeling You assign global negative traits to yourself and others "I'm undesirable," "He's a rotten person." 5. Discounting positives You claim that the positives that you or others attain are trivial "That's what wives are supposed to do, so it doesn't count when she's nice to me" "Those successes were easy, so they don't matter." 6. Negative filter You focus almost exclusively on the negatives and seldom notice the positives "Look at all of the people who don't like me." 7. Overgeneralizing You perceive a global pattern of negatives on the basis of a single incident "This generally happens to me. I seem to fail at a lot of things." 8. All-or-nothing thinking You view events or people in all-or-nothing terms "I get rejected by everyone" "It was a waste of time." 9. Shoulds You interpret events in terms of how things should be rather than simply focusing on what is "I should do well. If I don