Here are the some interesting 11 Common Errors in
Thinking
According to Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, we often feel
anxious, upset and annoyed because of certain errors in our thinking. These are
faulty ways of looking at life which are automatic - and also very common.
However, if we identify and change our way of thinking then our feelings are
reactions will be much healthier. These errors in thinking include the
following:
A1.
All –or – Nothing Thinking: Where the person evaluates themselves,
others, situations and the world in extreme categories. It doesn’t allow for
grey areas in thinking. “I’m a terrible
parent.”
A2.
Overgeneralizing: Thinking that because a bad experience
happened once, then that’s the way it’s always going to be. For example, “I
know I’ll fail my driving test. I’ve already failed it three times”.
A3.
Discounting the Positives: Ignoring the positive aspects of a
situation and saying that they don’t count. For example, generally getting good marks in school – but not praising
yourself for that. One paper gets some negative feedback and you tell yourself
you’re a useless student. The positive results are ignored.
A4.
Jumping to Conclusions -This has two aspects to it: mind
reading and fortune telling.
(i) Mind reading is thinking you know what others are
thinking without any evidence. For example, a person with social anxiety
assumes her colleagues think she’s useless at her job.
(ii) Fortune telling is predicting that the future will
turn out badly. For example, going for a routine mammogram and concluding that
you have cancer.
A5.
Magnifying / Minimising: Evaluating the importance of a
negative event, or the lack of evidence of a positive event, in a distorted
manner. (Blowing things out of proportion.) For example, concluding that your
sister doesn’t like you anymore because she forgot to send a birthday card.
A6.
Emotional Reasoning: Believing that something must be true
because it feels true. For example, when your boyfriend is an hour late in
arriving for a film, you conclude that he isn’t interested in you. You discount
the fact that, maybe, the bus was late, or he was delayed at work.
A7.
Labelling: Using a label (bad mother, idiot) to describe a
behaviour - and then taking on board everything associated with that label.
Seeing things is global terms. For example, a friend says or does something
thoughtless. You label then them as “a terrible friend” and now you interpret
anything they say in a hostile and negative way.
A8.
Personalization and blame: Where a person totally blames
themselves for something that’s gone wrong when it is not their fault. For
example, a soccer team member thinks she’s “put the coach in a bad mood”
because she missed a goal. She discounts the fact that the coach may have been
annoyed before the game started. The opposite is to totally blame another for
something. For example, a wife may blame her husband for the break up of their
marriage and not admit that she had any part in it.
A9.
Catastrophizing: (Similar to fortune telling) Dwelling on
the worst possible outcome. For example, an employee had to do a presentation.
He became obsessed with thoughts of performing badly, letting the company down,
losing his job, then losing his home and family.
A10.
Making “should” or “must” statements: Where the person has a fixed idea of how
they, others or life should be. These become “rigid demands”. When they person
is disappointed (as will inevitably happen) they become very upset and
overestimate how bad this will be for them. For example, a student berates
themselves for only getting 89% in an exam – when they wanted all their results
to be in the 90s.
A11.
Selective abstraction: Dwelling on one negative detail instead of
seeing the bigger picture. For example, a girl gets a haircut and 8 of her
friends say they love it. One person says they preferred her old style. The girl
thinks about that for hours and hours and wonders if she should have changed
her hairstyle.
Image Source: http://www.sxc.hu/photo/1125736
Post a Comment