Distorted Thinking and Anxiety

Hello everyone! So today we're going to be talking about anxiety and the various forms of distorted thinking that tend to come with it :).

Distorted thinking is, simply put, ways that our minds convince us of things that aren't true.

Types of Distorted Thinking:

There are 10 types of distorted thinking that we'll be talking about today:

1. Black and White Thinking

2. Mental Filtering

3. Over-Generalization

4. Jumping to Conclusions

5.Emotional Reasoning

6. Personalizing

7. Catastrophizing

8. Shoulding & Musting

9. Labeling

10. Magnification & Minimization

Black and White Thinking

Black and white thinking means seeing everything in extremes; there is no room for middle ground and everything is seen as all or none. People are right or wrong; situations are good or bad.

Mental Filtering

Mental filtering means only seeing the negative aspects of situations, or only seeing what is wrong with yourself. Someone might leave a party only remembering that she forgot someone's name or that she spilled her drink.

Over-Generalization

Over-generalization means believing that the results of one situation predict the results of all future situations. If your thoughts often involve the words "all", "never", "always", and "every" you might be overgeneralizing. Thoughts such as "I will always be a failure in social situations", or "Things never go well for me" are examples of over-generalizing.

Jumping to Conclusions

Jumping to conclusions can involve both believing that you know what others are thinking (mind reading) and predicting the future (fortune telling or predictive thinking). Someone might think things such as "He must think I am boring to talk to" or "I am going to embarrass myself at this party".

Emotional Reasoning

Emotional reasoning is believing that if you feel something it must be true. Someone might believe that because she feels anxious, there is something in the situation to be feared. Emotional reasoning is irrational; feelings can have many causes and do not always reflect reality.

Personalizing

Personalizing involves blaming yourself for external events outside of your control. Whether you are partly to blame or not to blame at all, you believe that external events are entirely your fault. A musician might blame a poor musical group performance on his own mistakes.

Catastrophizing

Catastrophizing means turning small problems into big ones or blowing things out of proportion. Someone might think that giving a poor presentation at work will mean that coworkers will dislike her and that she may lose her job.

Shoulding & Musting

Shoulding and musting is a type of black and white thinking. It involves thoughts such as "I must always do everything right" or "I should always agree with what people say", hence the name shoulding and musting.

Labeling

Labeling is a form of over-generalization. We label when we make global statements about people or situations based on specific circumstances. Labeling is unhelpful when evidence to contradict the global statement is ignored. Someone might label herself as "boring" despite evidence to the contrary.

Magnification & Minimization

People with anxiety or depression generally have a habit of magnifying the positive attributes of others and minimizing the positive attributes of themselves. People with this thought pattern do not recognize their own good qualities and discount the bad qualities of others.

How to Stop Your Distorted Thoughts:

1. Keep up a positive attitude, no matter what's going on in your life.

2. Stay in the moment. Think about the now. You are where you and and you are only wasting time if you are focusing on the past or future.

3. Be controlling. You can control the way you perceive a situation and the world around you. It may not be easy, but it's possible.

4. Be aware of what you are feeling when you are thinking. Sit with your emotions and figure out why you are having them. Once you recognize the distortions and identify them, you'll be more unlikely to be dismissive of your reactions.