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Cognitive Distortion: Overgeneralization What Is: Overgeneralization? Overgeneralization is one of the most socially destructive cognitive distortions we face today. At its core, this distortion causes us to take one experience and draw broad, often negative conclusions from it — and then apply those conclusions to all future situations. It sounds like: “I failed once, so […]

Cognitive Distortion: Mental Filtering   What Is: Mental Filtering?   Mental filtering is a cognitive distortion where the mind focuses exclusively on the negative aspects of a situation, filtering out anything positive. It creates a distorted lens that leads people to experience reality as if only the bad parts are true. A single bad moment

Cognitive Distortion: Magnification and Minimization What is: Magnification and Minimization? Living with this distortion is often compared to looking at the world through a pair of binoculars. When dealing with magnification and minimization you see all situations in one of two extremes, either you magnify the negative in a situation or you minimize the positive

Cognitive Distortion: Labeling & Mislabeling What is: Labeling & Mislabeling? Labeling and mislabeling is a cognitive distortion that takes a single behavior, mistake, or flaw and uses it to define the whole of a person — usually oneself or others. Instead of saying “I made a mistake,” we say, “I’m a failure.” Instead of saying,

Cognitive Distortion: Blaming What is: Blaming? Blaming is a cognitive distortion that warps the sufferer’s thinking pattern into attributing feelings of negativity and negative experiences to other people. When you are in this distortion, nothing is ever your fault, you have no responsibility for any outcomes, this also strips the sufferer of their own personal

Cognitive Distortion: Jumping to Conclusions What is: Jumping to conclusions?   Jumping to conclusions is a stealthy cognitive bias that hides under the disguise of “normal thinking.” What makes this distortion particularly insidious is that it operates on two fronts: how we think about others — and how others treat us. It doesn’t just harm the

Cognitive Distortion: Emotional Reasoning What Is: Emotional Reasoning? Emotional reasoning is a cognitive distortion that causes the sufferer to substitute their own feelings for factual information. When a person suffers from emotional reasoning they believe whatever their feelings are telling them, even if the facts of the situation contradict those feelings. Emotional reasoning places the

Cognitive Distortion: All or Nothing Thinking  What is: All or Nothing Thinking? All-or-nothing thinking, also known as black-and-white thinking or polarized thinking, is the mental habit of seeing everything in extremes. You’re either a total success or a complete failure. Things are either going perfectly — or they’re a disaster.  This distortion often masquerades as

Cognitive Distortion: Catastrophizing What is: Catastrophizing ? Catastrophizing, or worst-case scenario thinking, is a cognitive distortion that makes a person mentally inflate the possibility of negative outcomes in most situations.  It’s the voice that says, “Everything is going to fall apart. Always. In every situation.” It blocks hope. It blinds you to miracles. It turns