Types 1
“This is when we think something is only one way or the other—like all good or all bad—with nothing in between.”
What is All-or-Nothing Thinking?
“This is when we call ourselves or other people names that aren’t really true, or only tell part of the story.”
What is Labeling?
‘If my friend doesn’t play with me today, then they don’t like me at all.’
What is All-or-Nothing Thinking OR What is Overgeneralization?
“If your friend is upset and you think, ‘It’s my fault they’re sad,’ even though they’re upset about something else.”
“My friend is sad, but it’s not because of me. Maybe something else is bothering them, and I can still be a good friend by listening or being kind.”
Changing the way you think about something so it feels more true and less scary or unfair.
What is Reframing?
“This is when something bad happens once, and we think it means it will keep happening forever. We use words like ‘always,’ ‘never,’ or ‘everybody.’”
What is Overgeneralization?
“This is when we think something bad will happen before it even does, and we act like it’s already true.”
What is Fortune Telling?
“If someone doesn’t sit by you at lunch and you think, ‘They don’t like me anymore.’
What is Mind Reading?
“If you say, ‘I’m going to do awful on this test,’ before you even try.”
“I haven’t taken the test yet, so I don’t know how I’ll do. I can try my best and see what happens.”
“We’re going to lose the soccer game. We never win.”
“I don’t know what will happen. I can try my best, and our team might surprise us!”
“This is when something small feels huge—like we make a little problem into a really big one.”
What is Catastrophizing?
“This is when we blame ourselves for something bad that isn’t really our fault.”
What is Personalization?
“If your class doesn’t win the game and you say, ‘I ruined it,’ even though everyone played together.”
What is personalization?
“I got angry today and hit myself—this always happens.”
“I got angry today, but I’ve had lots of days where I didn’t hit myself. I can try a new way to calm down next time.”
You feel mad and want to hit yourself, thinking, “I can’t control my anger.”
“I feel really mad, but I can try something else like taking a deep breath, counting to ten, or squeezing a pillow instead.”
“This is when we think someone is being mean or doesn’t like us, even though we don’t really know for sure. We don’t stop to ask or find out what’s really true.”
What is Mind Reading?
“This is when we do something good but say it doesn’t really matter.”
What is Minimization?
“If you draw a nice picture and say, ‘It’s not that good,’ even when others think it’s great.”
What is Minimization?
“If I mess up at school, everyone will laugh at me forever.”
“If I make a mistake, maybe a few people notice, but most people are busy with their own work. I can fix it or try again.”
Someone gives you a compliment and you think, “They don’t really mean it.”
“They are being kind and I can enjoy the nice words.”
“This is when we notice one bad thing and only think about that, instead of seeing the good things too.”
What is Ignoring what's going right?
“This is when we take something good that happens and think about it in a bad way instead.”
What is Ignoring the Good?
“If you make one mistake on your homework and say, ‘I’m stupid.’”
What is Labeling?
Grandma got upset and went to her room. She must be mad at me now.
Everyone needs space to calm themselves down. Once she and I calm down, I can talk with her about things. She still loves me and is going to take care of me.
"You had a fun day at the park but only talk about when you fell down for a minute.”