Name that distorted cognition (thought/perception)

[ms spock]

Breaking down the ways in 10 primary cognitive distortions are in my life is really worth doing each and every day. When I first started working on this I was totally overwhelmed and thought that I would never be able to break them down or identify them. But now I am getting much better at identifying them. I am getting better at picking apart my distorted thinking patterns.

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.

1. I am realising more and more that lot of my problems stem from my all or nothing thinking.

2. I do overgeneralise and see normal ups and downs in a day as a neverending series of defeat. When I think like that I really go in to my helplessness and hopelessness.

3. I do put on a mental filter and beat the living crap out of myself at times - but it is not 24/7 like it used to be. It is not 24/7 like it used to be. I am getting so much better at this one.

4. I regularly disqualify the positive. I do it all the time. Though I am acknowledging my growth spurt in my recovery at the moment, in a solid way.

5. Jumping to conclusions and mind reading are two of my "favourites" they helped me have the illusion of control as a child. I am improving a lot in this one. I am challenging my own thinking and I am picking apart my own thinking. Sometimes I am slow in doing it, but I am doing it. I am getting much better at noticing my distorted thinking patterns.

6. Magnification and minimization - noticing more when I am doing that. Sometimes I really neglect serious things - like my personal safety and my ear infections, but I am doing a bit better here as well.

7. Emotional reasoning just because I feel it, doesn't mean it is so. I thought this woman was avoiding me but she is deaf on that ear so she walks in that position. I let myself spiral out about that on Monday.

8. I am doing a lot less should statements. I am doing better at this one. The Self Compassion Break does help with this one.

9. Labeling and mislabeling - doing this. I need to figure out ways to break this down more.

10. Personalisation - better with this distorted cognition. I catch myself doing it quite often, which is a big improvement.

If I hadn't done all this work on distorted cognitions I couldn't have actually managed my disorded eating. So it has been a big bonus in my life.

 

[ms spock]

I'm so good at knowing my distortions and so bad at fixing them.

Have you read the David Burns book @Shells? I found it most useful. The other one is to watch David Burns on youtube. I also found "The Mindful Way Through Depression" quite useful for picking apart depressive thinking as well. The dbtselfhelp website is useful to work through in order to shift thoughts/behaviours.

For quite a long time I could identify the thoughts but not really do anything much about them, with lots and lots of practice that has changed. It is a matter of consistently chipping away at the types of thinking you are doing, but to do that I had to learn not to beat myself up or attack myself or doubt myself, every time I made a mistake. That did take/is taking a long time to learn, but each day I get a bit closer.

 

[Cannottakethis]

I read the book a million years ago. I should read it again @Disco Dancing Queen. I'm starting a php dbt program this week that I've been in before. I think the fact that I know I understand them but can't practice them will hopefully move me to the next step of changing some of my behaviors. Why is that so hard for me? Ugh....I've been in therapy for over 30 years...you'd think I'd be able to do some of this.

 

[ms spock]

I have been in therapy since I was 15-16 and I am now 47-48 and I am finally just getting it @Shells. You are not alone.

My all or nothing thinking has stopped me for getting better for the longest time. I didn't know that though. I also didn't live where it is safe, so I didn't really have a chance.

 

[Cannottakethis]

I have been in therapy since I'm 15 and am now 47. We can have a club :hug:

 

[ms spock]

We certainly can have a club :hug: - there are ALOT of us out there! We are so not alone with the lifelong struggle with all this stuff.

 

[ms spock]

I have been doing a lot of minimisation about certain issues and myself - it was quite seriously dangerous what I was ignoring.

Labeling and mislabeling - doing that as well not able to define exactly how. But I am doing it.

 

[Teasel]

Have managed to stop with the should statements so much. Instead have been telling self I don't have to do anything at all if I don't want to. That IF I want to I can do this or that thing. And when doing things am attempting to do them mindfully and enjoy the experience.
Productivity levels are still small but way higher than they were. Pleased.

 

[ms spock]

I am getting better at picking apart my distorted thinking patterns. I still get lost in ruminations and maladaptive daydreaming, but so much less than I did last year. I am improving a lot in this area. I need to feel safe to ground in my body so I can really reread and redo the David Burns book once again. I am getting close to that point now.

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.

1. Black and white thinking has been a life long problem for me. My Mother used to make fun of me for it, and I remember feeling angry and resentful towards her, I thought but you made me like this. You mess with me and you did this to me. I was pretty young at the time. Anyway I am not young any more, but I still struggle with this. I do it a lot less than I used to do. I am trying to focus on doing more rational thinking each week. Slowly I am getting there.

2. I do see a single negative event as a pattern of defeat. Getting on top of this one will help with those helpless and hopeless feelings.

3. I do dwell obsessively on negative events, at times, I am improving in this area as well. A long way to go but also I have come such a long way.

4. I am getting better at not disqualifying the positive. It is hard, and part of the way I do this is through challenges, quests, power ups and bad guy identification in SuperBetter. It really is helping with number 4.

5. Oh the jumping to conclusions and the resulting paranoia has really shaped and limited my life. That is so sad. The good thing is that now I am jumping to conclusions a lot less than I was. I think building up distress tolerance will assist with this one.

6. Yes magnification and minimisation - I am doing it regularly. Recently I minimised my perceptions and it was quite dangerous, but I got lucky. I am worthwhile. I am worth protecting.

7. Emotional reasoning - I have lived my life thinking because I felt XX, then XX is true. I am still having trouble with this one - but a lot less.

8. Should statements - still doing a much more limited amount of these.

9. I still have troubles identifying this one.

10. Yes I am stepping out of taking the blame for how badly things went after I disclosed the abuse. It is taking along time, but at least now I have a path and I know more of where I am going with this.

 

[Chiqui]

I have been in a «awake all distorted thinking at once's» situation.
Still digesting it, but, I will tell more soon

 

[Chiqui]

I will start with «you should be more social» . Well, I don't want to. Others' words and activities affect me a lot, and I think over and over and over again afterwards. No ALL people, but Some.
The result it is I feel lonely because I am not that easy going than other people I observe. And I feel jelousy, a feeling I «shouldn't» feel. Why I should? Perfection and self control have ruled my life for a decade. I want to feel joy and easyness.

 

[Teasel]

Continued thinking on should statements. Slowing down is helping hugely. It helps me feel so much less daunted by whatever the thing I want or need to do. Makes the thing more inviting and I actually find mysrlf wanting to do it. I am feeling less stuck and am spontaneously doing more and new things too. So slowing down is a great replacement for should statements. Easy does it and enjoyment rather than the preassure and misery of should statements.