Cognitive distortions

What are cognitive distortions?

They are ways of interpreting reality erroneously when processing information, which
affects our mood, behavior, relationships and life in general. They are
misinterpretations that generate negative consequences for ourselves.

- Selective Abstraction or Filtering

- Overgeneralization
- "You should" or "I have to..."
- Emotional Reasoning
- Personalization or false attribution
- Polarized or dichotomous thinking
- Arbitrary inference
- Maximization and minimization
- Catastrophic vision
- Labeling
- Interpretation of thought
- Fallacy of Justice
- Fallacy of Change
- Fallacy of Control
- Divine Reward Fallacy
- Guilt
- Being right
- Interpretive Confirmatory Bias to Be Right
- Denial

Selective Abstraction or Filtering. Focusing attention on those negative and inadequate

aspects that confirm our schemas and ignoring the rest of the information. The
negative is filtered out, the positive is forgotten.
Ex: Maria has made an apple pie for her birthday and has invited 6 friends. Almost all
of them like it, but Laura does not like apple. Maria feels bad and thinks the cake is a
disaster.
Overgeneralization. This is the tendency to believe that if something has happened
once, it will happen many times, anywhere or in any situation.
E.g. Sonia has left Luis after 4 years of relationship. Luis thinks, "no one else will love
me", "I will never find anyone who wants to be with me".
"You should" or "I have to...". Rigid and inflexible beliefs about how one should be or
behave with oneself and others. Rigid schemes, sometimes not their own but cultural
or transgenerational.
They favor self-criticism if they are directed at oneself and anger, rage and even
aggressiveness if they are directed at others.
E.g.: people should let people out of the train before they get in. My partner should
call me every day and answer my WS immediately. Everyone should like me. I should
not make mistakes.
Emotional reasoning. We will believe that our emotions reflect what reality is like. Take
for granted that what we feel is the truth of what is happening.
E.g. I feel incompetent, therefore, I am incompetent. I feel this way about this
situation, therefore, it must be true.
Personalization or false attribution. People feel 100% responsible for events in which
they have hardly participated or have not participated at all.
Ex: My friend's son has taken an exam and failed. My friend thinks that he has failed in
his son's education or that he has made a mistake because if he had done well his son
would have passed.
Polarized or dichotomous thinking. Evaluating situations in an extreme way, without
taking into account the intermediate aspects. True or false, black or white. Terms such
as: everything, nothing, always, never... are used.
E.g. "Everything always goes wrong for me", "I never get invited to parties", "Everyone
looks at me wrong", "Nothing I do pleases my mother".
Arbitrary inference. With it, we make assumptions even if there is no evidence for
them. There are two modalities: divination of the thought and divination of the future.
- Divination or thought reading. Thinking that we know what others are thinking and
why.
E: this person wants to play a trick on you at work, he is nice because he is interested
in coming by car with me, I'm sure he feels sorry for me.
- Divination of the future. Negative thinking with the certainty that whatever we do
will go wrong. Not thinking that the situation can be neutral or positive.
Ex: I am going to lose my job for having said this, my partner is going to leave me after
this.
Maximization and minimization. It is about maximizing the successes of others and
minimizing our own successes. Also maximizing one's own failures and minimizing
those of others.
E.g. "I got an A on the exam but it was too easy", "I failed the job interview, as usual".
Catastrophic View. We choose to think the worst outcome for each situation usually
projecting into the future, even without evidence or being very improbable.
E.g. "My son should have arrived by now, I'm sure he's had an accident", "I'm going to
be overwhelmed at the wedding because I don't know anyone."
Labeling. Disqualifiers to describe ourselves or others.
Ex: "I'm a slob (failure, fool)" instead of "I do my best".
Thought interpretation. Similar to thought guessing. It involves making assumptions
about what others are really thinking or feeling.
E.g. I've been laughed at because I wear big glasses. She tells me to go but really
doesn't want to.
Fallacy of Justice. Labeling as unfair, anything that doesn't suit my convenience or
conform to my expectations. Believing that if I do things right, everything must go
right.
E.g. Everyone in the workshop would have to work at the same pace as me.
Fallacy of Change. Believing that our well-being depends on others.
E.g. If my partner was nicer I would work better. If my son studied I would be happier.
Fallacy of Control. Assuming all the responsibility for what happens or not assuming
any responsibility.
E.g. "Everything that happens is my fault", "I can't do anything to earn more money",
"Whatever I do, I can't pass".
Divine Reward Fallacy. Believing that if I make sacrifices and efforts today, I will receive
a reward in the future.
E.g. "If I take care of my children, they will take care of me tomorrow".
Guilt. Belief that we are to blame for what happens to others. Also believing that what
happens to us is the fault of others.
E.g. "I didn't pass the exam because of my partner who made me nervous".
Being right. Believing that what we think is true. Fusion with thoughts.
Confirmatory interpretative bias to be right. We tend to interpret reality in a way that
confirms that we are right and that what we think is true.
Ex: "you see how what I said was true".
Denial. Denying that something matters or affects us.
E.g.: "I don't care what my father says", "I don't care about his opinion".