COGNITIVE BEHAVIORAL THERAPY IN THE SF BAY AREA AND THROUGHOUT CALIFORNIA
  • Home
  • About Us
    • Dr. Diana Gordon
    • Dr. Kari Kagan
    • Dr. Katie Leoni
  • Services
    • What we treat
    • Supervision, Consultation, Training, and Workshops
    • Online/Live Video Psychotherapy (Teletherapy)
  • What is CBT?
    • Other Evidence-Based Psychotherapies
  • Policies and Forms
    • Course of Treatment
  • Contact
  • Location
  • Blog

Cognitive Distortions

6/26/2018

1 Comment

 
Author: Katie Leoni, Psy.D.

What Are Cognitive Distortions?
The idea behind CBT is that all of us sometimes think in ways that are inaccurate or irrational. We call these cognitive distortions, and they occur when our mind convinces us of something that is not actually true and we unknowingly reinforce this belief over time. It is normal to have cognitive distortions, no one is immune from them. The difference is in the quantity and the impact these distortions have on a person’s life. When a person is anxious or depressed, they tend to have more irrational thoughts and cognitive distortions. When you’re less anxious or depressed, you tend to have more rational thoughts. This makes sense from a CBT perspective as thoughts, feelings, and behaviors affect one another. The goal of treatment is to teach clients how to recognize certain thoughts that might be getting in the way of living the life they want to live as well as teaching clients how to modify those thoughts to be be more rational.

Common Cognitive Distortions
Identifying cognitive distortions that you engage in is an important first step to balanced thinking. Once you know what they are, you are better able to challenge them and question their truth. Below are common cognitive distortions. Remember, this list exists because we all experience cognitive distortions on a daily basis!
  • All or Nothing/Black and White Thinking
    • ​Viewing the situation in only two categories instead of on a continuum.
    • “If I don’t succeed, then I am a failure.”
  • Over-generalizing
    • Seeing a pattern based upon a single event, or being overly broad in the conclusions you draw.
    • ​“I did a horrible job on this project, I am a bad employee.”; “I will never be able to speak in public because I once had a panic attack before giving a speech.”
  • Mental Filter
    • Only paying attention to the negatives as opposed to the whole picture.
    • “Because I got one low rating on my evaluation, it means I’m doing a poor job.”
  • Disqualifying the Positive
    • Unreasonably discounting the positive things that have happened or that you have done.
    • ​“I got promoted at work but only because no one else wanted it.”; “I didn’t have a panic attack today, but it’s only because I was too busy to be worried.”
  • Jumping to Conclusions
    • ​Mind reading: Assuming that you know what someone else is thinking.
      • “He thinks that I don’t know what I’m talking about.”
    • Fortune telling: Assuming you can predict the future.
      • ​“I know I will draw a blank during my presentation tomorrow."
  • Magnification/Minimization
    • When evaluating yourself, another person, or a situation, you unreasonably magnify the negative and/or minimize the positive.
    • “Getting a mediocre evaluation proves how inadequate I am.”
  • Catastrophizing
    • Blowing circumstances out of proportion and making things out to be a lot worse then they are without considering other, more likely outcomes.
    • ​“I will be so upset, I won’t be able to function at all.”; “He’ll never want to be friend after what I said to him."
  • Emotional Reasoning
    • Interpreting your experience of reality based upon how you are feeling, ignoring or discounting evidence to the contrary.
    • ​“I feel so embarrassed so I must be an idiot.”
  • “Should” and “Must” Statements
    • The tendency to make unrealistic and unreasonable demands on yourself or others. 
    • “I should never make a mistake.”; “I must work out every day this year.”; “She should have been considerate and left earlier like I did.”
  • Labeling
    • Making global statements about ourselves or about others based on situation specific behavior.
    • ​“I’m a loser”; “They’re such an idiot.”
  • Personalization
    • Blaming yourself or taking responsibility for something that wasn’t completely your fault. Or, blaming other people for something that was your fault.
    • “The waitress was rude to me because I did something wrong.”

If you are interested in learning more about cognitive distortions and the way they are impacting you, please contact us to set up a phone consultation.

1 Comment
dissertation writers link
6/13/2019 08:11:54 pm

It's good to know that we have the ability to read other people's minds. It takes a lot of education to know someone by just observing their actions. Being a psychologist is a great advantage because they know a lot about people, may it be spoken or not. They know how to read different personalities, and that is something that I admire about them. By the way, thank for for having all these things explained to us, I've learned a lot!

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Diana Gordon, Psy.D., Kari Kagan Psy.D., and Katie Leoni, Psy.D.

    Drs. Gordon, Kagan, and Leoni practice psychotherapy primarily via telehealth. Their areas of expertise include anxiety, sleep, stress, depression, maternal mental health, and addiction. They blog about these topics to provide research-based information about common problems and strategies to help manage them.  

    Archives

    October 2021
    August 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    August 2017
    March 2017
    January 2017
    November 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • About Us
    • Dr. Diana Gordon
    • Dr. Kari Kagan
    • Dr. Katie Leoni
  • Services
    • What we treat
    • Supervision, Consultation, Training, and Workshops
    • Online/Live Video Psychotherapy (Teletherapy)
  • What is CBT?
    • Other Evidence-Based Psychotherapies
  • Policies and Forms
    • Course of Treatment
  • Contact
  • Location
  • Blog