The founder of the cognitive approach in psychotherapy, Aaron Beck, studied the ways in which people may have distorted perspective on reality. The following are among the most common of these distortions:
1. Black-and-white thinking
In this type of cognitive distortion, we view things in terms of extremes: good or bad, perfect or worthless, success or failure, moral or immoral, and so on. In doing so, we overlook the fact that reality usually lies somewhere in between. Another form of this distortion is either–or thinking.
“If you don’t love me, you must hate me.”
“Either I succeed, or I am a complete failure.”
“If I get this part wrong, I might as well abandon the whole thing.”
2. Mental Filtering
This occurs whenever we focus exclusively on what is wrong while failing to notice what is positive.
“I can’t see anything good in my situation.”
“I have no positive qualities at all.”
“There is no hope.”
3. Overgeneralization
In this distortion of perception, we take one part of the whole and begin to believe that it represents the whole or that it happens all the time.
“Everything is going wrong.”
“Everything I’ve ever done has been a complete failure.”
“I will always be a loser.”
4. Mind reading
This occurs when we draw conclusions without real evidence, relying solely on assumptions.
“She is deliberately ignoring me.”
“They don’t really like me.”
“They think I’m boring.”
5. Fortune-telling
Another way of drawing the wrong conclusions is when we treat our thoughts about the future as facts rather than as mere assumptions.
“I will be depressed forever.”
“I will never find a good job.”
“Things can only get worse.”
6. Emotional reasoning
In this form of distorted thinking, we assume that because we feel a certain way, that feeling must reflect reality.
“I feel like a failure, therefore I am one.”
“If I feel angry, it means someone has wronged me.”
“Because I feel unattractive, I must be unattractive.”
7. Personalization
This distortion consists of thoughts in which we are convinced that an event is personally related to us.
“Everyone is looking at me.”
“That criticism was aimed at me.”
“I must be the one who made her feel that way.”
