This is when we see things in black and white categories. There is no grey area.
What is All-or-Nothing Thinking
This distortion makes someone believe that neutral events—like others’ moods or comments—are caused by their body or eating.
What is Personalization
She broke up with me last night. Now I'll never meet anyone.
What is Overgeneralization?
This ACT skill involves noticing a thought without treating it as a fact or command.
What is cognitive defusion?
This is when we see a single negative event as a part of a never-ending streak of failure
What is Over-Generalization
This CBT skill helps you respond to an eating-disorder thought with a more balanced, compassionate statement.
What is reframing or ED vs. HS dialogues
This happens when we blow a negative event out of proportion, making it matter "too much"
What is Magnification or Catastrophizing
She is moving to a new apartment because she does not like having me as a neighbor.
What is personalization or mind-reading
Which skill involves asking, “What evidence supports this thought—and what evidence doesn’t?”
What is reality checking?
This is when we conclude that someone is acting negatively towards us or thinking negatively of us without checking it out or seeking other evidence.
What is Mind Reading
“If my body doesn’t look exactly how I want today, I feel like it looks terrible.”
What distortion is being used here?
What is all-or-nothing thinking?
A client thinks, “My jeans feel tighter today, so I must be gaining weight and losing control.”
Which skill would help them slow down, separate feelings from facts, and look for objective evidence?
What is Check the Facts?
This distortion happens when someone focuses only on a body feature they dislike and ignores their whole body.
What is mental filter?
“I feel uncomfortable and anxious in my body today, so my body must be wrong or unsafe.”
What is emotional reasoning?
You notice the thought: “Everyone else is doing recovery better than me.”
Name the distortion and one compassionate response.
What is comparison/mental filtering?
Compassionate response:
“My recovery is my own process, and I don’t see others’ full struggles.”