Examples
"Everyone is looking at me. I must look weird."
Mind reading
Blaming yourself for anything that goes wrong around you, even if you had nothing to do with it.
Self-blaming/Personalization
"I feel ugly, so I must be ugly."
"I feel like a bad friend, so I must really be a bad friend."
Feelings as facts/Emotional reasoning
You get one question wrong on a test, and all you can think about is the mistake.
Ignoring the good/discounting the positive
"I'm never good at anything."
All-or-nothing thinking/Black and white thinking
Believing that just because you feel something, it must be true.
Emotional reasoning/Feelings as facts
"People should always be nice to me."
"I should never get angry."
"Should" statements
Making a really big deal out of something small, or making something a little bit bad seem like the worst thing ever.
Magnification/Blowing things up/Catastrophizing
"I'm so boring, I'll never have any friends."
Negative Labeling
The belief that things should always be a certain way.
"Should" statements
"My friend is sad today. It's probably my fault."
Your team lost the game last night, and you think it's all your fault.
Self-blaming
Thinking in terms such as "always" or "never."
All-or-nothing thinking/Black and white thinking
"I got one answer wrong on my test. I can't believe I messed that up."
Ignoring the good/discounting the positive
Believing you know what someone else is thinking or why they are doing something without having enough information.
Mind reading
You get a stain on your new shirt, and you think it's ruined and can't be worn again.
"I'm grounded and can't go out this weekend. My life is so horrible!"
Magnification/Blowing things up/Catastrophizing
Thinking you know what will happen in the future, and knowing that it will be bad.
Fortune-telling
"I know I won't make the baseball team, so I shouldn't even try out."
Fortune telling
Having a negative belief about yourself and thinking it applies to everything you do.
Negative labeling
"So what if I got straight A's. It's not really important."
Minimization
Interpreting the meaning of a situation with little or no evidence.
Jumping to conclusions