Unmask and challenge the thought traps that hold you back from emotional freedom.

Do you frequently feel trapped in negative thought patterns that impact your mood?

How often do you find yourself assuming you know what others think about you?

Are you prepared to confront the thought distortions that keep you from moving forward?

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Cognitive distortions are irrational patterns of thinking that distort our view of reality and lead to negative moods. They shape how we interpret situations, often leading to negative feelings like anxiety or depression. For example, "I didn’t do well in this meeting, so I’m completely useless at my job," leading to feelings of inadequacy and low self-worth.

Addressing cognitive distortions is important because they can cause unnecessary emotional distress and hinder personal growth. Recognizing and challenging them is a key part of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), which helps people shift to more balanced, rational thinking. By replacing distorted thoughts with more accurate ones, individuals can experience healthier emotional responses, make better decisions, and foster personal growth and self-improvement.

Cognitive biases are different because they primarily affect judgment, not mood. Psychological scientists define bias as the tendency to make systematic errors in judgment or decision-making due to perceptual, cognitive, social, or cultural factors. Biases are a natural part of human thinking and affect everyone to some extent. For example, if you mostly remember the times people were rude to you but forget the times they were nice, you're experiencing negativity bias—a type of cognitive bias that makes negative experiences seem more important than positive ones. While biases influence how we judge situations, their consequences can still impact our mood, either positively or negatively.

In some cases, cognitive biases can contribute to cognitive distortions. For example, negativity bias may fuel the cognitive distortion of catastrophizing, where small problems are blown out of proportion, leading to heightened anxiety or depressive moods. However, cognitive biases and cognitive distortions are distinct concepts.

Common cognitive distortions

Here’s a list of some cognitive distortions in alphabetical order with short descriptions:

👉 Black-and-white thinking (all-or-nothing thinking): Viewing situations in extreme, either/or terms, without acknowledging the complexity or middle ground. For example, seeing a small setback as total failure, or believing that if a partner forgets an anniversary, it means they don't love you at all.

👉 Blaming others: Placing all responsibility for negative outcomes and feelings on others without considering one's own contribution. For example, if a project at work fails, you might blame your coworkers for not doing their part, without acknowledging any mistakes you may have made yourself. This avoids personal accountability and leads to frustration or resentment.

Underlying bias: Self-serving bias leads people to attribute successes to themselves but failures to others, fueling the tendency to blame others for negative outcomes.

👉 Catastrophizing: Exaggerating the potential negative outcomes of a situation, expecting the worst-case scenario to unfold. For example, if you’re running late to an appointment, you might think, “I’ll lose my job if I don’t make it on time,” even though that outcome is unlikely. This leads to heightened anxiety and an inability to realistically assess risks.

Underlying biases: Availability bias makes negative outcomes seem more likely because we tend to recall more vivid and recent negative experiences when predicting the future. Negativity bias causes us to focus more on negative possibilities, which amplifies fears and leads to worst-case thinking.

👉 Cognitive labeling: Using overly simplistic or negative labels for oneself or others, such as "loser" or "failure." These labels reinforce negative self-perceptions and limit personal growth, often by not being open to subsequent contradicting evidence that shows a more balanced or positive view.

Underlying bias: Confirmation bias reinforces negative labels by making us seek out or focus on evidence that supports the label while ignoring contradictory information.

👉 Delusions: Believing in false or unrealistic ideas, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. For example, a stalker might believe that the person they are fixated on is in love with them, despite clear signs that the person is afraid and wants no contact. Another example could be a person who believes they are being persecuted by others without any real justification or proof, even when their claims are repeatedly contradicted by those around them.

Underlying biases: Illusory correlation causes us to perceive connections between unrelated events, leading to delusional beliefs. Belief perseverance makes it difficult to abandon a belief even in the face of overwhelming contradictory evidence, sustaining delusions.

👉 Discounting the positive: Dismissing positive experiences or achievements by insisting they don’t count because they were due to luck or an exception. This distortion strengthens a negative self-image by rejecting any evidence that contradicts it. For example, after receiving a compliment, you might think, “They didn’t really mean it” instead of accepting it as sincere.

Underlying biases: Negativity bias causes us to focus more on negative events or feedback, making it harder to acknowledge or accept positive experiences. Confirmation bias reinforces the tendency to dismiss information that contradicts our negative self-view, leading us to reject positive feedback or accomplishments that don’t align with our pre-existing beliefs.

👉 Emotional reasoning: Believing that feelings accurately reflect reality, such as thinking "I feel worthless, so I must be worthless." This distortion ignores factual evidence and is based solely on emotions.

Underlying biases: Affect heuristic leads us to rely on emotions when making judgments, causing us to believe that feelings like worthlessness reflect objective truth. Confirmation bias reinforces this distortion by focusing only on information that supports the emotional belief, while disregarding evidence that contradicts it.

👉 Mindreading: Believing you know what others are thinking, often in a negative way, without having concrete evidence of it. For example, if a colleague doesn’t greet you in the morning, you might think, “They must be upset with me,” even if they are simply distracted. This can lead to misunderstandings and unnecessary conflict. So remind yourself that you can't read minds!

Underlying bias: Fundamental attribution error causes us to believe others’ behaviors stem from their internal characteristics rather than external factors, reinforcing our assumptions about their thoughts.

👉 Negative filtering (also called mental filtering): Focusing exclusively on negative aspects of a situation while ignoring positive elements. For example, after receiving mixed feedback on a project, you might only remember the critical comments and overlook the praise you received, leading to an unbalanced view that fosters sadness or frustration.

Underlying biases: Negativity bias makes us give more weight to negative information, causing us to filter out positive details. Confirmation bias leads us to notice and focus on negative evidence that supports a pessimistic view while ignoring positive facts that contradict it.

👉 Negative predictions: Making assumptions about a negative outcome without sufficient evidence. For example, if you have a presentation coming up, you might think, “I’m going to embarrass myself in front of everyone,” without considering that you might actually do well. This leads to unnecessary anxiety or pessimism.

Underlying biases: Availability bias causes us to predict negative outcomes by recalling recent or emotionally vivid negative events, which makes them seem more likely than they are. Negativity bias magnifies the likelihood of negative predictions, making us anticipate the worst instead of considering a balanced range of outcomes.

👉 Overgeneralizing: Making broad generalizations from a single event, often using terms like "always" or "never." For example, after failing a job interview, you might think, “I’ll never get hired,” even though it was just one experience. This leads to beliefs about oneself or others based on limited experiences. Just keep in mind that one experience is not enough to draw a conclusion.

Underlying bias: Availability bias leads us to overgeneralize by giving undue weight to a specific event, especially if it was emotionally charged or recent.

👉 Personalizing: Assuming you are the cause of an external event or situation, even when it's unrelated to you. This often leads to feelings of guilt, anxiety, insecurity, or sadness. For example, after a friend cancels plans, you assume it's because they don’t like you, even though they said they were busy.

Underlying bias: Egocentric bias makes us believe we play a larger role in events than we actually do, contributing to the tendency to personalize outcomes.

👉 Rejection sensitivity: Focusing on signs of social rejection while ignoring signs of acceptance, making one overly sensitive to perceived social slights. For example, if a friend doesn't respond to your message right away, you might think, “They must not want to talk to me,” while disregarding the times they’ve reached out to you positively. This contributes to social anxiety and self-doubt.

Underlying biases: Negativity bias makes us more sensitive to perceived rejection, amplifying signs of exclusion and dismissing signs of acceptance. Confirmation bias causes us to focus on any evidence of rejection that fits our existing fear of social exclusion, while ignoring positive interactions.

👉 Should statements: Imposing rigid, unrealistic rules on oneself or others, such as "I must always be successful" or "I should always be happy." This leads to frustration, guilt, or disappointment when these expectations aren’t met.

Underlying bias: Illusion of control bias drives the belief that we can control outcomes, making us adhere to rigid rules and expectations.

How to reduce the negative impact of cognitive distortions

Cognitive distortions can shape how we view ourselves, others, and the world, often leading to negative emotions and unhelpful behaviors. These thought patterns are automatic but not inevitable. By becoming aware of them and taking steps to challenge and change them, you can significantly reduce their negative impact on your mood and decisions.

⚒️ Increase your awareness of your cognitive distortions

Recognizing when you're engaging in cognitive distortions is the first step in preventing them from negatively influencing your feelings and actions. Common triggers for this awareness include moments of heightened emotion, such as stress, anxiety, or frustration, often during challenging situations like work deadlines, interpersonal conflicts, or self-evaluations.

To help identify cognitive distortions, ask yourself these questions:

👉 What was I thinking just before I felt this way? Pinpointing the troublesome thought that triggered your emotional response makes it easier to identify distortions.

👉 What evidence supports or contradicts this thought?  This encourages critical thinking and helps you assess whether your belief is based on facts or assumptions, revealing cognitive distortions.

👉 Am I making negative predictions combined with catastrophizing? Examine whether you are not only expecting negative outcomes but also exaggerating those outcomes into worst-case scenarios.

👉 Am I using absolute language, like "always" or "never"? Identifying these extremes can highlight overgeneralizations and help you recognize the need for more balanced thinking.

By regularly engaging in this awareness check-In, you can enhance your self-awareness and begin to counteract negative thought patterns, leading to healthier emotional responses and actions.

⚒️ Challenge your cognitive distortions

Once you've identified cognitive distortions, the next step is to challenge and replace them with more balanced, realistic thoughts. This process requires practice but can significantly reduce the emotional impact of distorted thinking.

👉 Use "evidence-based thinking": List the facts that support your distorted thought, then list evidence that contradicts it. This helps you see the bigger picture and avoid drawing conclusions based solely on feelings.

👉 Reframe your thoughts: After identifying a distortion, ask yourself how you would view the situation if you were thinking more rationally. For example, replace "I always fail" with "I’ve had successes and challenges, and this setback doesn't define me."

👉 Consider alternative perspectives: Imagine giving advice to someone else—what would you tell a friend if they came to you with this thought? Or, think about how you'd view this situation in a year. Both approaches help shift your perspective and give you a more objective view of the situation.

👉 Test your beliefs: Engage in behaviors that challenge the distorted thought. If you believe "nobody likes me," take small steps to connect with others and see if your fear is confirmed. Often, reality will contradict the distortion.

👉 For additional details see “Uncover the unhelpful beliefs behind your difficult feelings”.

By consistently practicing these strategies, you can reduce the frequency and intensity of cognitive distortions, leading to more balanced thinking and emotional well-being.

Additional tips

👉 Practice self-compassion: Treat yourself with the same kindness and understanding you would offer a good friend. Instead of harshly criticizing yourself when you notice a distortion, acknowledge that everyone has negative thoughts sometimes and focus on how you can grow from the experience.

👉 Keep a thought journal: Write down situations where you notice cognitive distortions, including the thoughts and feelings that arise. Reviewing these entries can help you identify patterns and gain insight into the triggers and types of distortions you tend to fall into.

👉 Pause and take a breath: When you catch yourself in a cognitive distortion, take a moment to pause. Mindful breathing can help calm your emotions and create space for more balanced thinking.

👉 Challenge should statements: Ask yourself why you believe something must be a certain way. Often, rigid rules we impose on ourselves can be unrealistic or unnecessary, leading to frustration. Flexibility in thinking allows for more reasonable expectations.

👉 Seek support from trusted friends or family: Sharing your thoughts and feelings with others can provide new perspectives and reassurance, helping you challenge cognitive distortions more effectively.

👉 Join a support group: Engaging with others who experience similar challenges can foster understanding and provide practical strategies for addressing cognitive distortions together.

👉 Consider professional therapy: If cognitive distortions significantly impact your daily life, seeking help from a mental health professional can offer tailored guidance and tools for managing negative thought patterns.

These tips, combined with regular practice of identifying and challenging cognitive distortions, can help you foster a healthier mindset and build resilience against negative thought patterns.

References

50 Common Cognitive Distortions, Psychology Today, by Alice Boyes Ph.D.

What is Catastrophizing? Cognitive Distortions, Psychology Today, by Alice Boyes Ph.D.

Cognitive Distortions, Unconscious Bias, Cognitive Bias, Logical Fallacies: What You Need To Know To Protect Yourself, Forbes, by Dr. Gleb Tsipursky

Challenging Five Unhelpful Thinking Styles in Singlehood, Psychology Today, by Andrew G. Thomas PhD CPsychol MBACP

What Are Cognitive Distortions and How Can You Change These Thinking Patterns?, Healthline, by Rebecca Joy Stanborough, MFA

The Cognitive Distortion That Will Alter Your Life Blueprint, Psychology Today, by Audrey Sherman Ph.D.

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