Cognitive Distortions

• What are cognitive distortions?

  irrational thoughts that can influence your emotions
• magnification and minimization

  exaggerating or minimizing the importance of events (ex: one might believe their own achievements are unimportant or that their mistakes are excessively important)
• catastrophizing

  seeing only the worst possible outcomes of a situation
• overgeneralization

  making broad interpretations from a single or few events (ex: "I felt awkward during my job interview. I am ALWAYS so awkward."
• magical thinking

  the belief that acts will influence unrelated situations. (ex: "I am a good person--bad things shouldn't happen to me.")
• personalization

  the belief that one is responsible for events outside of their own control. (ex: "My mom is always upset. She would be fine if I did more to help her.")
• jumping to conclusions

  Interpreting the meaning of a situation with little or no evidence
• mind reading

  interpreting the thoughts and beliefs of others without adequate evidence. (ex: "She would not go on a date with me. She probably thinks I'm ugly.")
• fortune telling

  the expectation that a situation will turn out badly without adequate evidence
• emotional reasoning

  the assumption that emotions reflect the way things really are. (ex: "I feel like a bad friend, therefore I must be a bad friend."
• disqualifying the positive

  recognizing only the negative aspects of a situation while ignoring the positive. (ex: one might receive many compliments on an evaluation, but focus on the single piece of negative feedback)
• "Should" statements


  the belief that things should be a certain way. (ex: "I should always be friendly.")
• all-or-nothing thinking


  thinking in absolutes such as "always", "never", or "every". (ex: "I NEVER do a good enough job on anything.")