Thinking Clearly: Spotting Cognitive Distortions

 “Cognitive distortions are internal mental filters or biases that fuel anxiety and make us feel bad about ourselves.” - Peter Grinspoon, MD (Harvard University)

In other words, cognitive distortions are thoughts that lead to misunderstandings about reality. (Think of them as akin to putting on dirty glasses that make it hard to see.)

When anxiety dominates a gifted brain, it is often due to a variety of cognitive distortions. These distortions are part of the human experience regardless of high ability in a given area (mathematics, reading, creativity, etc.). It’s important to remember it is possible to be highly intelligent but still perceive reality in an inaccurate or ineffective manner. 

This week students explored numerous cognitive distortions along with examples of how these distortions create untrue perceptions of reality. Challenging these ways of thinking (and becoming aware of them in the first place!) can often help with incessant negative thought patterns. 

Common Cognitive Distortions (With Examples): 

• All-or-nothing thinking: I never have anything interesting to say. Words like “always” and “never” are flags for this style of thinking.

• Jumping to conclusions (or mind-reading): The teacher is going to tell me I am wrong.

• Personalization: Our team lost because of me.

• Should-ing and must-ing (using language that is self-critical that puts a lot of pressure on you): I should be doing perfect in this class.

• Mental filter (focusing on the negative, such as the one aspect of a health change which you didn’t do well): I am terrible at getting enough sleep.

• Overgeneralization: I’ll never find a class I’m good at.

• Magnification and minimization (magnifying the negative, minimizing the positive): It was just one bad temper tantrum.

• Fortune-telling: My test score is going to be sky-high.

• Comparison (comparing just one part of your performance or situation to another’s, which you don’t really know, so that it makes you appear in a negative light): All of my classmates are happier than me.

• Catastrophizing (combination of fortune-telling and all-or-nothing thinking; blowing things out of proportion): This error on my test is a sign I could never have the job I want.

• Labeling: I’m just not a creative person.

• Disqualifying the positive: I answered that well, but it was a lucky guess.

As you probably noticed in this lengthy list, plenty of cognitive distortions exist to cloud our thinking and color our world. It’s important to learn to practice “mental hygiene” in order to draw conclusions based on sound evidence and not the numerous cognitive distortions that can fill our mind. To continue our metaphor, sometimes we have to stop to clean our glasses or it can become hard to see.

Optional Journal Prompts:

1. Look over the list of cognitive distortions. Which one(s) do you struggle with the most? How do you know? Which one(s) do you struggle with the least? How do you know?

2. Look at the self-talk examples for each cognitive distortion. Do you have additional examples to add? Can you then replace the example with a more effective thought (e.g. “I’m just not a creative person” could turn into “I’m working on being a more creative person”).