Breaking Unhealthy Thought Patterns
By: Alicia Byelich
In the 1960s and 1970s, using information gained from cognitive theorists such as Albert Ellis and Aaron Beck, researchers recognized commonalities in thinking patterns known as cognitive distortions (Mozdzierz et al., 2014; Sommers-Flanagan & Sommers-Flanagan, 2015). Cognitive distortions are unhealthy thinking patterns, typically false thought processes that individuals take as truths, that can impact mental health. These thinking patterns develop over the course of a lifetime, are automatic, often occurring without us even realizing it, until someone else points it out, or, as in the case of this blog, one learns about it and then begins to pay attention to their own thought process.
Research has found that cognitive distortions may be correlated to depressive symptoms (Mercan et al., 2023; Tanriverdi & Özgüç, 2023), anxiety (Mercan et al., 2023), borderline personality disorder and struggles with emotional regulation (Geiger et al., 2015) among other mental and emotional struggles. In this article we will focus on ten common unhelpful thinking styles/cognitive distortions. While reading, notice if any of these thinking patterns seem familiar to your line of thinking.
Unhelpful Thinking Styles:
All or Nothing Thinking (Also known as “Black and White Thinking”). This type of unhealthy thinking patterns divides things into two different extremes like: “good or bad”, “either/or”, “right or wrong”, and/or “always or never”. Some examples may include: “I have to get an A on the test or else I’m a failure”. Or, “people always pick me last” (when this is not the case). Or, “my boyfriend doesn’t really love me because he forgot my birthday”. In all or nothing thinking there is no grey area, no alternative way to think about things, and leaves the individual stuck in their own perspective.
Mental Filter: This occurs when an individual grasps onto evidence to support a belief they have while ignoring evidence that may be contrary to their belief. For example: You are taking a test of 10 questions and one was really hard. You finish the test convinced you will fail because of ONE hard question while ignoring that you probably got the other 9 correct. Mental filtering may cause us to focus on the one thing that went wrong in the day or the one thing your partner did wrong without acknowledging the many things they did right in that day.
Jumping to conclusions: Typically, when we jump to conclusions we are making assumptions. There are two parts to jumping to conclusions 1) mind-reading: we think we know what everyone else is thinking and 2) fortune telling: we think we know exactly what is going to happen in the future without taking into account other possibilities. For example: “I know all the neighbors are talking about my old car in the driveway and think I’m poor” (Mind-Reading). Or, “There’s no point in even trying to ace this test, it doesn’t matter what I do, I will fail” (Fortune Telling).
Emotional Reasoning: In this pattern of thought we base our beliefs on how we feel. For example: “I feel guilty that I didn’t help the child who was lost (even though there were 20 other people were helping them); I must be a bad person.” There is no evidence that you are a bad person and there were others helping the lost child and yet, you feel guilty, so you determine that you are not a “good” person. Or you have a “gut” feeling that someone in your neighborhood is dangerous despite plenty of evidence that is contrary; therefore, you are convinced, no matter what, that they are unsafe to be around. If you feel it, it must be true.
Labeling: Labeling occurs when we define, judge, or assign a label to ourselves or others. Some examples include: Your child’s classmate makes fun of your child, and you automatically label that individual as a “bully”. You drop something and label yourself as “clumsy.”
Overgeneralizing: This occurs when we make an assumption based off of a single event. A conclusion is made about an event and this conclusion is then generalized to other events. For example: “I didn’t have fun at the concert so I will never enjoy a concert.” Always and Never are descriptive words that are often used in overgeneralizations.
Disqualifying the positive: Disqualifying the positive is when you dismiss or discount the good things that happen to you or that you do to others. An example may be when you receive a compliment and your immediate thought is “they have to say that because they are family”, instead of accepting their compliment to you. Or you hold open a door for someone, and when thanked, think something like, “It wasn’t a big deal; lots of people open the door for people.”
Magnification (Catastrophizing) and Minimization: In this unhelpful thinking style an event may be blown out of proportion/exaggerated OR minimized by making the event less important than it really is. For example: Magnification/Catastrophizing: If I don’t go to work when I am sick, then I will get fired (even though you have never taken a sick day at this job). Minimization: Getting into a car accident that totals your car and stating, “It wasn’t that big of a deal”.
Should/Must: “Should” and “Must” thinking is usually tied up in rules you have learned from others or rules you’ve created for yourself. This type of thinking often causes unnecessary pressure on yourself and tends to create negative self-talk. Examples include: “I should work out.” Subconsciously, this statement is criticizing yourself and leaning towards telling yourself you aren’t good enough or are failing in some way. Using “must,” in this example, “I must go to the gym,” puts a lot of pressure on you and also is, under the surface, critical of something in your life you are not doing.
Personalization: Personalization is taking blame for something that is not your fault. For example: Your child gets a cold and you blame yourself for allowing them too much candy and not giving them enough healthy foods. (You don’t consider the germ that gave them the cold). Or your boss is having a bad day, and you blame yourself thinking that if you worked harder your boss would be happier.
Various studies have found correlations between specific cognitive distortions and mental health struggles. Research has found a correlation between the cognitive distortion, fortune telling, under the heading Jumping to Conclusions above, to an increase in suicide attempts (Jager-Hyman et al., 2014). In adolescents, who were diagnosed with major depression, the main cognitive distortion pattern, was mind-reading (Tanriverdi & Özgüç, 2023). Other studies evaluating cognitive distortions in clinically depressed individuals found, should/must, as a main pattern of thinking with overgeneralizing and catastrophizing following (Tanriverdi & Özgüç, 2023). A correlation between anxiety and the above listed distortions was studied and found to be present in those suffering from anxiety symptoms (Mercan et al., 2023).
Knowing this, what can you do to change these thought patterns?
First: Pay attention and notice them. This week, notice your thoughts and your self-talk. Do you recognize a pattern?
Second: Try to use one of the following techniques to help change your thought patterns:
Challenge the thought: Ask yourself if this thought is really true? What evidence shows the thought is true? What evidence shows the thought is not true? For example, labeling yourself as stupid. Can you think of three times in your life you made a good decision? If that is the case, are you really “stupid”? Or maybe you have a thought like, “I didn’t do anything today; I’m always (all or nothing thinking) lazy”. Challenge this thought by writing down all the things you DID do today. You can use this challenge when you are catastrophizing as well; list all the possible outcomes that may occur instead of fixating on the worst.
Change perspectives by looking outside of yourself: Ask yourself would everyone feel this way? What if a friend told me that they were thinking these things; what type of advice would I give them? (Sommers-Flanagan & Sommers-Flanagan, 2015)
Write down the cost/benefits of the thought: Are you gaining valuable information from thinking this way? For example: mind-reading – is this really helpful? How is it helpful, how is it not? If you weren’t mind-reading would your behaviors/thoughts/feelings change? (Mozdzierz et al., 2014; Sommers-Flanagan & Sommers-Flanagan, 2015)
Reframe: Try to think in a different way. For example, with the Should/Must cognitive distortion, instead of telling yourself “I should” or “I must”, try telling yourself “I would like to...” OR “I want to...” Changing the language you use may help provide more motivation to implement change in a healthy way instead of criticizing yourself and focusing on the ways you are not meeting your goals.
Everyone has unhealthy thought patterns. You can take back control of your thoughts through curiosity and self-compassion while implementing some of the tips listed above. While we cannot control an automatic thought (the first thought that pops into your head) you can gain control over where that thought goes next. You can let your thoughts spiral and get out of control; or, try something new. If you need help, please reach out. We are happy to help you identify and work on changing unhealthy patterns of thought so you can feel better about yourself and the world.
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References
Geiger, P.J., Peters, J.R, & Baer, R.A. (2015). Cognitive distortions under cognitive load mediate the relationship between severity of borderline personality features and goal-interfering emotion dysregulation. Journal of Experimental Psychopathology, 6(4), 389-397. https://doi.org/10.5127/jep.040413
Jager-Hyman, S., Cunningham, A., Wenzel, A., Mattei, S., Brown, G. K., & Beck, A. T. (2014). Cognitive Distortions and Suicide Attempts. Cognitive therapy and research, 38(4), 369–374. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-014-9613-0
Mercan, N., Bulut, M., & Yüksel, Ç. (2023). Investigation of the relatedness of cognitive distortions with emotional expression, anxiety, and depression. Current Psychology, 42(3), 2176+. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12144-021-02251-z
Mozdzierz, G.J., Peluso, P.R., & Lisiecki, J. (2014). Principles of counseling and psychotherapy: Learning the essential domains and nonlinear thinking of master practitioners (2nd ed.). Routledge Tayor & Francis Group.
Sommers-Flanagan, J. & Sommers-Flanagan, R. (2015). Counseling and psychotherapy theories in context and practice: Skills, strategies, and techniques (2nd ed.). John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Tanriverdi, D., & Özgüç, S. (2023). Metacognitive features and cognitive distortions of the patients with major depression. Current Psychology, 42(21), 18010+. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12144-022-03026-w
