Distortion Practice: 055

Spot the cognitive distortions in your life

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Jan 22

You can get better at revealing the cognitive distortions in your life with a little practice. Try identifying the distortions that are happening in this short story:

📖 Short story

Written by: Ewelina Ahmed, CBT Therapist, BABCP

You have received a bill that you have completely forgotten about. You didn’t budget for it and it is a huge chunk of money that you didn’t plan on spending. You are very worried and think ‘I should have put some money aside for unexpected expenses! I will now get into debt and will never get out of it; it will keep getting worse and worse! I am so stupid!’

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📜 Common distortions

👯‍ Generalizing: Assuming that because you experienced something in the past this must mean it will happen again. “A dog bit me when I was 5, therefore all dogs are dangerous and will bite me.”
☄️ Catastrophizing: Are you focused on the worst case scenario? Regardless of how likely it is.
🧠 Mind reading: Assuming what others think. “They probably think I'm an idiot.”
✨ Should statements: Pressuring yourself with things you should have done differently. “I should have eaten healthier today."
🌓 All or nothing thinking: Thinking in extremes. You are either a success or a failure. "She doesn't want to date me. I'll never find love.”
🕹️ Out of your control: Are you worrying about something out of your control?
🔮 Fortune telling: Assuming future events. “I just know that something is going to go wrong and I'm going to be late for my interview.”
🚫 Disqualifying the positive: Focusing only on the bad. “He said that I looked nice but he says that to everybody. He was just being polite."
🏷️ Labeling: Taking one characteristic of a person and applying it to the whole person. “I failed a test, so I'm a bad student.”
🔎 Magnifying the negative: Judging a situation entirely on the negative parts and not considering the positive parts. “I ate healthy this week, but I skipped the run I had planned.”
🎭 Emotional Reasoning: Assuming that just because it feels bad, it must be bad. Forgetting that our feelings are just a reaction to our thoughts. “I feel anxious so it must be scary!”
🪞 Comparing and despairing: Focusing only on the positive aspects in others and comparing ourselves negatively against them. ‘Their hair is so much better styled than mine, I look horrible in comparison’.

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💡 Answers

I should have put some money aside for unexpected expenses!

You telling yourself what you should have done differently. You are using should statements. You are being harsh on yourself, of course it would be great if we all put money aside for unexpected costs that might come up, but truthfully, we often don’t because we can’t afford that. The difficulty with this should statement is that you are only telling yourself that you should have done that, knowing now that it was needed. This is a hindsight. You didn’t know it then.

I will now get into debt and will never get out of it; it will keep getting worse and worse!

You are imagining the worst that could happen. You are catastrophizing. Picturing the worst possible outcome and the long-lasting fall out from this, is likely to make you feel more and more stressed. It is to be expected that you are feeling anxious and a bit hopeless right now. What might be helpful is problem solving this situation, list all your options and pros and cons for each. This will help you pick the best direction to move towards.

I am so stupid!

You are calling yourself mean names. You are labeling yourself. You did not expect this, you forgot about it. This happens to the best of us and it doesn’t make you stupid. This makes you a human, we forget things. Be kinder to yourself.

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