Cognitive Distortions
You speak up at a team meeting, and your suggestions are not included in the project. You leave the meeting thinking, “I ruined my chances for a promotion. I never say the right thing!”
Overgeneralization -
When you overgeneralize something, you take an isolated negative event and turn it into a never-ending pattern of loss and defeat.
With overgeneralization, words like “always,” “never,” “everything,” and “nothing” are frequent in your train of thought.
What is it when you jump to conclusions, negatively interpret the thoughts, feelings and behaviors of someone else with no evidence to support that they think or feel that way?
Mind Reading
Describe what the feeling "calm" means to you
Peaceful, relaxed, breathing normally, chilled, focused
True or False: Most people are aware of all of the thoughts they are having during the day and while they are asleep
False.
We actually don't realize how many thoughts we are having most of the time and we can get lost in them
True or False
When someone is rude to me they have the power to "make" me angry, depressed, or another feeling
False
No one can "make" or force you to feel any certain way. If you notice that you are starting to feel angry at someone you can chose to stop and notice your feelings and then think about how to respond. You do not have to believe what that person says about you
Your coworker was a saint until she ate your sandwich. Now, you cannot stand her. Or, you got a B on your last test, so you have failed at being a good student despite getting only A’s before that.
Polarization or all-or-nothing thinking
Polarized thinking is thinking about yourself and the world in an “all-or-nothing” way.
When you engage in thoughts of black or white, with no shades of gray, this type of cognitive distortion is leading you.
To disregard or dismiss the positive aspects of an event or situation.
Disqualifying the Positive
How might you feel if someone tells you they don't want to be your friend anymore?
Sad, hurt, confused, frustrated, upset
What is a positive alternative thought for this Fault Thought?
I got ketchup on my library book. If they didn't give us those stupid ketchup packets at lunch, this wouldn't have happened.
Its okay, I can clean it, it will be fine later, this is fixable, this is a small mistake.
Give an example of a thought that leads to a feeling that leads to a behavior
Example
thought - "I am dumb" - feeling - "helpless" - behavior - Quitting or stop practicing Math or another subject you find difficult
It’s performance review time at your company, and your manager compliments your hard work several times. In the end, they make one improvement suggestion. You leave the meeting feeling miserable and dwell on that one suggestion all day long.
Filtering
Mental filtering is draining and straining all positives in a situation and, instead, dwelling on its negatives.
Even if there are more positive aspects than negative in a situation or person, you focus on the negatives exclusively.
To blame someone for an event that occurred without considering other factors or how you might have contributed to the event yourself.
Blaming.
How do you know when you are angry?
Making a fist, walking around, yelling, fast heart beat, feeling warm
What is a positive alternative thought for this Heart Thought.
"I am not in class with any of my friends because my teachers don't like me so they put me in a different class then everyone else"
"I am in a different class then my friends but this will allow me to make some new friends. I will get to see my old friends at recess still.
True or False: Behaviors can influence the way we feel and think
True.
Sometimes when we lose control we can react in ways that hurt others such as by throwing objects, screaming and (or) saying hurtful things, or hitting others, and this can influence us to feel guilty and we can begin to think we are a bad person who can never change
Your partner comes home looking serious. Instead of asking how they are, you immediately assume they’re mad at you. Consequently, you keep your distance. In reality, your partner had a bad day at work.
Jumping to conclusions
When you jump to conclusions, you interpret an event or situation negatively without evidence supporting such a conclusion. Then, you react to your assumption.
What is feeling grateful?
Feeling really thankful for something nice that happened to you or something you have.
Instead of reacting to our thoughts what is one thing we can do instead?
Pay attention to our thoughts with curiosity.
Learning to be aware of our thoughts can allow us to respond with more choice instead of reacting in ways we may regret
True or False
Some behaviors are wrong and can lead to negative consequences
True
Even though feelings are not right or wrong, behaviors can be right or wrong. For example, it is okay to be angry but not okay to hit other people
What if my alarm doesn’t go off? What if then I’m late for the important meeting? What if I get fired after I’ve worked so hard for this job?
Catastrophizing
Catastrophizing is related to jumping to conclusions. In this case, you jump to the worst possible conclusion in every scenario, no matter how improbable it is.
This cognitive distortion often comes with “what if” questions. What if he didn’t call because he got into an accident? What if she hasn’t arrived because she really didn’t want to spend time with me? What if I help this person and they end up betraying or abandoning me?
To compare your achievements with others or with standards that are unrealistic without considering that every person is unique.
Unfair Comparisons
How can you tell how someone is feeling?
Through facial expressions, body language, or by them telling you
"Not good enough" What is a positive statement that can counteract this untrue thought?
Not good enough yet, try again, keep trying, don't give up, look toward the positive things you are good at, ask for help
If we are in higher distress, we will experience cognitive dysregulation along with emotional dysregulation. What are other skills for distress tolerance or emotion regulation that we can use to bring down the intensity of emotion so we can work with thoughts more rationally?
TIPP Skills: temperature, intense exercise, paced breathing, PMR
Body scan/grounding skills
Self-soothe
Distract (time-limited!)
Opposite action/BA
Check the Facts