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Poll Are You Familiar With The Top Ten Distorted Cognitions?

Are You Familiar With The Top Ten Distorted Cognitions?

  • Yes I am aware of the top ten distorted cognitions.

  • No I am not at all aware of the top ten distorted cognitions.


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ms spock

MyPTSD Pro
Are you aware of the top ten primary cognitive distortions as listed below?
  1. All or nothing thinking -- You see things in black and white categories. If your performance falls short of perfect, you see yourself as a total failure.
  2. Over-generalization -- You see a single negative event as a never-ending pattern of defeat.
  3. Mental filter -- You pick out a single negative detail and dwell on it so exclusively that your vision of all reality becomes darkened, like the drop of ink that colors the entire beaker of water.
  4. Disqualifying the positive -- You reject positive experiences by insisting they "don't count" for some reason or other. In this way you can maintain a negative belief that is contradicted by your everyday experiences.
  5. Jumping to conclusions -- You make a negative interpretation even though there are no definite facts that convincingly support your conclusion. (Involves mind-reading and fortune-telling.)
  6. Magnification and minimization -- You exaggerate the importance of things, or you inappropriately shrink things until they appear tiny.
  7. Emotional reasoning -- You assume that your emotions necessarily reflect the way things really are, as in "I feel it, therefore it must be true."
  8. Should statements -- You try to motivate yourself with "should" and "should not," as if you have to be whipped and punished before you could be expected to do anything.
  9. Labeling and mislabeling -- This is an extreme form of overgeneralization. Instead of describing your error, you attach a negative label to yourself.
  10. Personalization -- You see yourself as the cause of some negative external event which, in fact, you were not primarily responsible for.
Source: David Burns' book "Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy. The Clinically Proven Drug Free Treatment for Depression"
 
@Hope4Now The book, that I am so grateful that Anthony suggested on this forum, is David Burns' book "Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy. The Clinically Proven Drug Free Treatment for Depression". I didn't know that so much of my experience was depression before I read this book. I thought it was just me. I really thought all my depressive thinking was truly me. I just didn't know. The above list of ten distorted cognitions come from this book, and by reading this book you work through ways of addressing these ten types of distorted cognitions. (Cognitions are thoughts, feelings, perceptions).

@Hope4Now I have the book, audiobook and CD of the "The Mindful Way Through Depression: Freeing Yourself from Chronic Unhappiness" by Mark Williams, Jon Kabat-Zinn, John Teasdale and Zindel Seagal. And that does explain depression really, really well. it goes through types of depressive thinking. It goes through so much to do with the way the mind turns in on itself and us whilst in the throes of depression. It is possible to to change and heal, I think it is about finding what works for you and then doing it enough to create new neural pathways in your brain. You also have to do the work. You have to fight your demons. But this book cautions about beginning Mindfulness whilst in the midst of a depressive episode. I was never really out of depression, so I just began where I was.

I think though that an experienced trauma therapist is probably the best bet to begin to deal with these distorted cognitions.
 
My work is with an excellent trauma therapist....he does address some of these. Probably better to let him tackle the start of them, then digging into a book. Books are great, but after you reach a certain point.
 
Thank you for the recommendation, @Ms Spock ! I'm requesting the books from the library today.
I didn't know that so much of my experience was depression before I read this book. I thought it was just me.
Yes, this is the issue with me I am pretty sure! I've now been told that my "depression" just looks quite different from what most people think of as depression. Still not quite sure what that means.
But this book cautions about beginning Mindfulness whilst in the midst of a depressive episode.
Yes, I have learned this. Over and over again. The hard way. Because, of course, I didn't KNOW I was in a depressive episode. I do practice mindfulness quite a bit--as in multiple times a day. It's powerful stuff. After two years of it, the practice is beginning to provide some results, thankfully. Mostly because of this:
I think though that an experienced trauma therapist is probably the best bet to begin to deal with these distorted cognitions.
Yes. I never would have made it this far in healing without my therapist.
 
What I find fascinating is how I could see so many therapists and not one of them sat down with me and explained about these ten distorted cognitions. David Burns book was published a long time ago. It wasn't until I saw something anthony wrote about the book that I read it. So I am curious to know how many people on the forum know of them and how many don't know of them. I have been profoundly depressed and since I was 15 no one mentioned them to me or showed me how they worked. I have only known about David Burns book for a relatively short time.
 
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Love your avatar @Jnean. The audiobook is one I have listened to many, many, many times, and I still am learning from it.
 
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