Cognitive Behavior Therapy

Cognitive Behavior therapy, also called CBT, is the idea that our thought patterns and deeply held beliefs about ourselves and the world around us influence our experiences. This can lead to mental health distress when thoughts are distorted an unyielding. CBT teaches practical tools to help individuals learn new perspectives and ways of thinking that can improve mood. Aaron T. Beck developed the foundation for CBT when discovering many clients suffered from depression based on reacting to “distorted” thoughts and false thinking. (Good Therapy, 2015).

Cognitive Distortions

Cognitive distortions are irrational thoughts that can influence emotions. It can be common to experience this type of thinking, but this type of thinking can cause problems.

1. All-or-Nothing Thinking / Polarized Thinking

Also known as “Black-and-White Thinking,” this distortion presents as inability or unwillingness to see other perspectives. This type of absolute thinking is often demonstrated by words “always,” “never,” or “every.”

2. Over-generalization

This sneaky distortion makes a broad interpretation from a single or few events. An example might be after one or two bad dates, “I always pick the bad ones.”

3. Mental Filter

Similar to over-generalization, the mental filter distortion focuses on a single negative piece of information and excludes all the positive ones. The mental filter can generate a pessimistic view of everything by focusing only on the negative.

 4. Disqualifying the Positive

This distortion acknowledges positive experiences but rejects them instead of embracing them. If receiving compliments, this distortion causes the focus to be only on a single piece of negative feedback.

 5. Jumping to Conclusions – Mind Reading

This “Jumping to Conclusions” distortion manifests as the inaccurate belief that we know what another person is thinking.

Seeing a stranger with an unpleasant expression and jumping to the conclusion that they are thinking something negative about you is an example of this distortion.

 6. Jumping to Conclusions – Fortune Telling

A similar distortion to mind reading, fortune telling refers to the tendency to make conclusions and predictions based on little to no evidence and holding them as truth.

 7. Magnification (Catastrophizing) or Minimization

Exaggerating or minimizing the importance of events. One may believe their own achievements are unimportant, or that their mistakes are excessively important.

 8. Emotional Reasoning

Emotional reasoning refers to the acceptance of one’s emotions as fact. It can be described as “I feel it, therefore it must be true.” Just because we feel something doesn’t mean it is true.

 9. Should Statements

The belief that things “should” be a certain way.

 10. Personalization

This distortion involves taking everything personally. The belief that one is responsible for events outside of their own control. A student may internalize a grouchy teacher as “He is always upset, I did something to upset him.”