Mind Reading -Interpreting the thoughts and beliefs of others without adequate evidence . “ 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 . “ I feel like a bad friend , therefor I must be a bad friend .”
Disqualifying the Positive -Recognizing only the negative aspects of a situation while ignoring the positive . 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 . “ I should always be friendly .” All-or-Nothing Thinking -Thinking in absolutes such as “ always ”, “ never ”, or “ every ”. “ I neverdo a good enough job on anything .”
Now … I am sure that all of you have experienced one or more of these . If you say that you haven ’ t it means one of two things . 1 . You don ’ t have a mind that functions or 2 . You my friend are lying . What we have to understand today and moving forward in life is that it is ok to acknowledge mental health and the issues that come in all of our lives as it pertains to dealing with it . Understanding that mental health involves more than illnesses such as bi-polar and schizophrenia is vital . Mental health involves the overall health of the brain which includes how we think . Having cognitive distortions , as you can see , can affect how we think and how we respond in certain situations . It is the difference between talking ourselves out of reaching for a goal or confidently taking a chance to accomplish that goal . Cognitive distortions can create illusions in our minds that can feed fear and doubt leading them to grow to these huge monsters that take total control over our lives .