What are Cognitive Distortions and How to Identify One?
Identify the common cognitive distortions to improve the way you think and avoid negative thought loops.
We have all experienced cognitive distortions at some point or the other, I know I have. If you have ever gone into a negative thought spiral or held yourself responsible for something that was out of your control, you’ve experienced cognitive distortions.
I understand it’s hard to believe.
When I first learned about cognitive distortions and started identifying them when I was experiencing them, it changed my life. Even now, every time I start a thought spiral, I remind myself to check if I am thinking objectively or falling prey to a cognitive distortion.
This has helped me immensely in improving my clarity of thought and improve my relationships and I hope it helps you too.
Read this post to learn more about cognitive distortions and six of the most common ones that you should be able to identify.
What are Cognitive Distortions?
Put simply, cognitive distortions are ways of thinking that are not logical or factual and can cause negative thought loops. Cognitive distortions can make you think about things more negatively or drastically than they actually are.
Some cognitive distortions, like personalization, can also make you believe things that are completely untrue.
Given that our thoughts determine how we live and interact with the world, cognitive distortions can be really dangerous. They can make you think less of yourself, resent your family and friends, and distort your overall worldview.
Needless to say, learning about the common cognitive distortions and avoiding them can drastically improve your quality of life.
That’s why I have listed six of the most common cognitive distortions that cause people to think negatively. Understand these well and the next time you are in a negative loop, identify the distortion to get out of that loop.
6 Common Cognitive Distortions Behind Negative Thinking
Here are some of the most common cognitive distortions that you should learn to identify and avoid.
1. Black and White Thinking
This is a polarized way of thinking where you look at the world with a black or white lens with no shades of grey.
If you think in extremes like:
- I’m perfect or I’m a complete failure
- My boss is the devil
- The world is out to get me
Then, you have polarized thinking and that causes you to live life in extremes, instead of seeing the actual reality, which mostly exists somewhere in between.
2. Overgeneralization
If you take something specific and generalize it such that you hold it true for all circumstances, then you’re probably overgeneralizing.
Some examples include:
- My partner dumped me so I am not worthy of love
- I failed an exam, so I am a complete failure
In such cases, you’re drawing a conclusion based on a specific event and holding it true across the board, which is logically incorrect and a fallacy.
3. Personalization
This is a cognitive distortion where you feel responsible for events that are out of your control. As a result, you either feel guilty and blame yourself for something that was not your fault.
It can also make you feel like you’re being targeted for something that you did not do.
Examples include:
- I let my son go to a party and that’s why he had an accident
- My kid failed at school because I am a bad parent
Personalization is one of the most destructive cognitive distortions as it makes us blame ourselves or others for things that are out of our hands.
4. Catastrophizing
This is a cognitive distortion that makes people think of the worst-case scenario when dealing with uncertainty.
If you find yourself asking a lot of “what if” questions and the answers are always negative, then you are dealing with this distortion.
Some examples are:
- If I miss the flight and get late for that meeting, I will get fired
- My salary has not come on time, so I will fail to pay rent and will get evicted
This is one of the cognitive distortions that I have personally dealt with and continually try to avoid.
If you ever find yourself thinking of the worst possible outcomes, identify it as one of the cognitive distortions and get out of the loop.
5. Fairness Fallacy
Another one of the cognitive distortions that I often face is the fairness fallacy.
It occurs when you have strong opinions about what’s fair and what’s not and if others don’t follow the same scale, you resent them.
For example, you may feel that someone who doesn’t work as hard as you should not get a promotion while you don’t. And if they do, you find it unfair and get resentful and angry.
This is a big mistake, as every person’s moral scale is different and what you may consider unfair, someone else might not.
6. Labeling
When you label yourself based on your actions or others based on theirs, you’re falling prey to this cognitive distortion.
For example, you may:
- Lose at something and label yourself as a loser
- See someone caring too much about beauty and label them as shallow or vain
Basically, you take one action and use it to label a person or make it their identity, which is not good. This will make you judgemental and could ruin your social relationships.
Ready to Break Out of Your Negative Thinking Loops?
If you can identify cognitive distortions while you’re experiencing them, you can correct your thinking pattern and learn to think more objectively.
This will not only help you break out of your negative thought spirals but will help improve all aspects of your life, especially your social relationships.
Reference this post whenever you need to refresh your memory or need help identifying a cognitive distortion. Also, when you think you’ve mastered these, read about more types of cognitive distortions to improve the way you think. All the best!
