Our brains can make faulty connections between ideas, thoughts, actions, and consequences even if they aren't connected. These connections without any true relationship between them lead to distorted or false perspectives of any situation or event. Because of these faulty connections, we end up connecting two thoughts or situations even though the situations had no real ties between them.
Let’s say your friend isn’t responding to your calls because she didn't notice it. But, you don't know that. So, you end up assuming, “She isn't responding to my calls, and it's raining cats and dogs out there. She must have met with an accident and probably is lying down in a ditch somewhere.” This is a classic example of cognitive distortion where you perceive reality negatively and inaccurately.
Cognitive distortions are the inaccurate, negative, and biased perspectives we often take on ourselves and the world around us. We have all sorts of irrational beliefs and thoughts that have nothing to do with our current situation. Cognitive distortions are hard to recognize when they are a regular feature in your daily thoughts. Humans cannot escape these distortions. But you can always identify your faulty patterns of thinking and rectify them.
The effects of cognitive distortions are usually subtle. However, if not taken care of, these erroneous thoughts can trigger symptoms of depression.
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There are several forms of cognitive distortions. We are going to discuss the most common seven here.
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The seven most common cognitive distortions are:
This is also known as "black and white thinking". Polarised thinking is the ability to see the shades of grey in your life or any situation of your life. For instance, if your friend isn’t responding to your calls, you end up assuming she is dead. You see things at extreme levels - either fantastic or awful.
Let’s say you failed in one paper and conclude that you are a total failure and will probably fail forever no matter what. This is over-generalization. You take one instance or example and generalize it to a specific pattern. It can lead to negative thoughts about yourself and the environment you are in.
The mental filter focuses on one negative experience of your life and forms all decisions and opinions based on it irrespective of all the positive experiences of your life. It can make you develop a pessimistic view about everything happening in your life.
This type of cognitive distortion is when you acknowledge the positive experiences but do not embrace them. For instance, let’s say an employee got a raise. So, instead of considering themselves competent, they end up connecting the raise with corporate politics.
"Jumping to conclusions" means assuming what the other person is thinking of you without any necessary or logical explanation. The assumption is often negative and has nothing to do with reality.
It is also known as the “Binocular Trick.” It tends to tweak your perspectives to the extent that you always exaggerate or minimize the importance or likelihood of things. Let’s say an athlete got an award for her fantastic performance. Yet, she ignores the significance of the award and continues considering herself as a mediocre athlete.
Emotional reasoning takes place when you accept your emotions as facts. We may feel something and accept that feeling to be true. But, that is not how it works. It is a common distortion, and once you are aware of the problem, you can deal with it efficiently.
Other cognitive distortions include labeling and mislabelling, personalization, control fallacies, the fallacy of fairness, etc. Writing your assignments on any of the cognitive distortions can be both hectic and time-consuming. But, our team can make the task 10X easier. Share your academic requirements with us.
As mentioned earlier, it is possible to take care of cognitive distortions once you are aware of them. So, here are the steps that can help you deal with these distortions:
Now that you know the common cognitive distortions, it’s easier for you to figure them out. Don't panic when a particular thought is causing anxiety or dampening your mood. Instead, take your time to identify what kind of distorted cognitive thinking is taking place.
You need to assess the situation. Come up with the shades of grey, objective evidence, alternative explanations, or positive interpretations possible. It is even better to write down these positive thoughts and go through them if you feel anxious.
It is a talk therapy where you get to learn, identify and modify unhealthy thinking patterns. The therapist focuses on specific goals related to correcting your thinking pattern. The sessions end once they reach the goals successfully.
Psychology students are often asked to discuss the treatment plans for cognitive distortions in their assignments. So, if you need any assistance with this topic, get in touch with our experts. We have handpicked the best PhD-qualified experts to write this paper for you with the utmost precision.
Have you been asked to mention examples of cognitive distortions in your assignment? Here are some ideas for you to include in your paper:
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