A cognitive distortion is a belief or an assumption that we make with either minimal evidence or without truly considering the evidence, they are essentially irrational thought patterns.

What are cognitive distortions?

A cognitive distortion is a belief or an assumption that we make with either minimal evidence or without truly considering the evidence, they are essentially irrational thought patterns.

Below are a list of common cognitive distortions:

All or Nothing Thinking: Seeing everything in black or white. For example, declaring you are going to fail ALL tests based on the experience of failing one test.

Overgeneralization: Taking one or two situations to mean that something is generally applies to everything or everyone.

Mental Filter: Only considering one incidents or the incidents to support an assumption and ignoring other situations that may contradict it.

Discounting the positive: Completely omitting or disregarding positive experiences in order to justify harmful patterns

Jumping to Conclusions: Making assumptions about what will happen or what others may think based on minimal or no evidence.

Magnification: Inaccurate emphasis on negative or positive behaviors. For instance, overemphasizing struggles or setbacks while minimizing your progress.

Emotional Reasoning: Coming to untrue conclusions based solely on emotion.

Should statements: Shame-based statements rooted in unrealistic standards. For example “I should always be able to control my depression”.

Labeling: Concluding what type of person someone is based on an action.

Personalization/blame: Placing blame on someone else or yourself based on an outcome that was not actually your fault or in your control.

How Do We Use Reframing?

A commonly used technique, reframing can help shift our frame of thinking and decrease the frequency and intensity of cognitive distortions. It is consciously shifting thoughts during difficult moments of cognitive distortions.

The first step in cognitive reframing is catching it! There are “thought records” as a resource online to write down cognitive distortions we identify. Then, we evaluate the evidence of our distortions and the “cost and benefit” of this distortion. For instance, What are the costs and benefits of thinking this way? Or is it helpful or hurtful to be attached to this way of thinking? If this thought costs more than you are getting, then continue through weighing the evidence. When we notice a negative thought, make a column that proves that thought and make a column that disproves that thought. You don’t have to fully believe the reframed thought right away, but having it written before us is a great first step. The goals of reframing are in the short-term moving our mindset away from a more negative framework to a more helpful or supportive framework.