3. Our thoughts have a great impact on how we feel
and how we behave. When you treat these negative
thoughts as facts, you may see yourself and act in a
way based on faulty assumptions.
Cognitive distortions are thought patterns that
are exaggerated or irrational. They can cause
people to perceive reality inaccurately, and can
contribute to the onset of psychopathological
states like depression and anxiety.
4. Cognitive distortions are biased perspectives . They are
irrational thoughts and beliefs that we unknowingly
reinforce over time.
All cognitive distortions are:
Tendencies or patterns of thinking or believing;
That are false or inaccurate;
And have the potential to cause psychological damage.
5. All-or-Nothing Thinking / Polarized
Thinking
you see things in terms of extremes – something is
either fantastic or awful, you believe you are either
perfect or a total failure.
For example coming second in matches or competition
6. 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.
Overgeneralizing can lead to overly negative thoughts about yourself and
your environment based on only one or two experiences.
For example :Athletes may generalize a single negative event to their
overall abilities or future performances.
7. Mental Filter
the mental filter distortion focuses on a single
negative piece of information and excludes all the
positive ones.
For example An athlete who performs well in all
areas of a competition except one might solely
dwell on the mistake or weakness, discounting
their overall performance.
8. Disqualifying the Positive
the “Disqualifying the Positive” distortion
acknowledges positive experiences but rejects
them instead of embracing them.
9. Jumping to Conclusions – Mind
Reading
This “Jumping to Conclusions” distortion
manifests as the inaccurate belief that we know
what another person is thinking. Of course, it is
possible to have an idea of what other people are
thinking, but this distortion refers to the negative
interpretations that we jump to.
10. 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;
For example, an athlete who feels anxious
before a competition might conclude that
something must be wrong or that they are not
prepared, even if they have trained extensively.
11. Magnification (Catastrophizing) or
Minimization
this distortion involves exaggerating or minimizing the
meaning, importance, or likelihood of things.
Athletes may catastrophize by imagining the worst
possible outcome of a situation.
Example:Imagine a boxer who is preparing for a title
fight against a formidable opponent. As the fight date
approaches, they start catastrophizing by imagining
the worst possible outcomes. They envision
themselves getting knocked out in the first round,
humiliating themselves in front of their fans and
supporters, and suffering irreversible damage to their
reputation and career. They dwell on these
catastrophic scenarios to the point where they
become overwhelmed with anxiety and self-doubt.
12. Should Statements
Another particularly damaging distortion is the
tendency to make “should” statements. Should
statements are statements that you make to
yourself about what you “should” do, what you
“ought” to do, or what you “must” do. They can
also be applied to others, imposing a set of
expectations that will likely not be met.
13. Labeling and Mislabeling
These tendencies are basically extreme forms of
overgeneralization, in which we assign judgments
of value to ourselves or to others based on one
instance or experience.
14. Personalization
As the name implies, this distortion involves
taking everything personally or assigning blame
to yourself without any logical reason to believe
you are to blame