Types of Thought Distortions and How to Change Your Thinking

Thought distortions are patterns of thinking that don’t match reality. Also known as cognitive distortions, they are automatic, inaccurate, often irrational thoughts and beliefs that have little or no evidence to back them up, and that color the way you view yourself, others, and the world, and shape your experiences and behavior.

Types of Thought Distortions

Mental Filtering Mental filtering is zooming in on one negative detail of an experience, frequently taken out of context, while disregarding the broader picture and ignoring everything else about it that is good, positive, or neutral. You do well at school, for instance, but keep beating yourself up and calling yourself stupid because of one question you answered wrong on a test.

Catastrophizing Catastrophizing is when you blow things out of proportion, interpret even harmless situations as frightening, and anticipate the worst, despite having no evidence that such an outcome is possible or even likely. For example, thinking “My son has not called; he must have been in a car accident,” or “This spot on my skin is probably skin cancer.”

Emotional Reasoning Emotional reasoning undermines your logical processes and assumes that what you feel about a situation reflects its reality, regardless of the facts or any evidence to the contrary. For example, “I’m feeling anxious, so something bad must be about to happen,” or “I’m feeling guilty, so I must have done something wrong.

All-Or-Nothing Thinking All-or-nothing thinking is seeing everything in terms of black or white, with no middle ground or shades of gray. Everything is either one extreme or the other, totally perfect or completely bad. A single mistake, for instance, is seen as ruining an entire project, or anything less than an A+ as a failure.

Should Statements “Should” statements are rigid, unrealistic rules you create for yourself using words such as “should,” “should not,” and “must,” that put a lot of pressure on you and lead to guilt and the feeling that you are never enough. “I must make sure the house is spotless before company comes,” for instance, or “I should always know the right thing to say.”

Magnification and Minimization Magnification and minimization are two sides of the same coin. Magnification highlights negatives, exaggerating them and making them seem larger than they are, such as thinking, “I made a mistake at work, so now my whole career is ruined.”

Minimization, on the other hand, diminishes strengths and achievements, making them seem small and insignificant. It can also trivialize important realities, such as ignoring a persistent problem in a relationship and saying, “Everything’s fine, they’re just overreacting.”

Dismissing the Positive Dismissing the positive is discounting the good things that happen to you as not counting, being unimportant or invalid, or chalking them up to luck or coincidence by using disqualifying statements such as, “It was just a lucky guess,” when commended for giving a good answer on a test, or “The only reason I got hired for the job was because the interviewer was desperate to find someone to fill the position.”

Jumping to Conclusions Jumping to conclusions is assuming that something is true or likely to happen, without any evidence to support it. Thinking a friend is angry with you because he is not smiling, for instance, or predicting an outcome there is no basis for, such as “the doctor is going to tell me I have cancer,” when you are on your way for a routine checkup.

Labeling Labeling is judging and defining yourself or someone else negatively, based on an isolated incident or behavior, such as calling yourself an idiot, loser, or failure, because you made a small mistake at work, or calling someone else a jerk, because they accidentally bumped into you.

Overgeneralization Overgeneralization is assuming that one negative event means that all future events will also have negative outcomes and stretching a bad moment into a permanent cycle of defeat, making sweeping assumptions such as, “I misplaced my keys. I can never keep track of anything,” or “I got stuck in traffic this morning. I’ll always be late for work.”

Personalization Personalization is feeling guilty about and blaming yourself for problems that are not your fault, and imagining you caused them even when you had nothing to do with them, or they were issues that were out of your control. Thinking “It’s my fault our team lost the game,” for instance, or “It’s my fault my friend is not enjoying this party.”

Comparisons Comparisons involve comparing yourself or your performance to someone else’s and magnifying your faults and weaknesses while emphasizing their strengths, even when you don’t know all the facts, and then feeling inadequate or inferior and thinking thoughts such as, “All my friends are doing better than I am,” for instance.

Effects of Thought Distortions

Adding to or subtracting from what’s really happening can cloud your judgment, increase stress, and have a detrimental impact on many areas of your life. Catastrophizing over a financial situation or a benign health symptom, for instance, can disrupt your sleep or lead to panic attacks.

Being convinced you’re a failure or that nobody likes you can cause you to isolate and avoid social situations or keep from pursuing new opportunities at work. All-or-nothing thinking and emotional reasoning can lead you to see threats all around you where none exist.

Although everyone tends to have negative thoughts once in a while, if they are constant, they are likely to turn into strongly held beliefs. Left unchecked, a steady flow of negative expectations and predictions can erode your self-esteem, cause you to see yourself as not good enough or unable to change, and lead to frustration, depression, and anxiety.

Causes of Distorted Thinking

In some cases, thought distortions are the brain’s way of looking for mental shortcuts to avoid having to process a lot of information at the same time. Instead of having to deal with future uncertainty, for instance, you make a habit of assuming the worst.

In other cases, distorted thoughts may be your mind’s way of looking for solutions to potential future events, such as the breakup of a relationship or a failing grade at school.

While there is no conclusive evidence of a definitive cause for them, distorted thoughts seem more likely to emerge in times of high stress, and some studies have indicated that people who experience adverse events in childhood, such as financial hardship, abandonment, chronic illness, or trauma, are more vulnerable to distorted thinking as adults.

Tips for Putting an End to Thought Distortions

Identify your thought distortions Becoming aware of and identifying the thought distortions you are most prone to is the first, most important step. It is what enables you to deconstruct them and reframe them in a more positive and realistic way.

Practice nonjudgmental awareness Practice acknowledging your thoughts without judging them or beating yourself up about them.

Question your automatic thoughts Take a closer look at your negative thoughts and ask yourself how rational or realistic they are, if there is any evidence to support them, and if you might be overlooking something positive.

Keep a gratitude journal Look for things you can be thankful for and focus on what is going well in your life without downplaying it. End your day by writing three positive things in your journal that you accomplished or experienced, no matter how small they may seem.

Consider therapy A trained mental health professional can help you identify and address your thought distortions, equip you with tools to reframe and replace them, and help you think in a more balanced way.

If you need more help than this article on thought distortions can provide, and would like to set up a risk-free appointment with one of the faith-based counselors at our location, please give our reception team a call.