Cognitive Behavioral Therapy – Thinking Errors Part I[1]

 

Thinking errors are the thought patterns that we have that are not healthy and do not serve us.  In this post, we will go over the thinking errors and some quick strategies to overcome them.  There are 12 destructive thought patterns in all and we will talk about four of them over the next couple of blog posts.

 

Catastrophic Thinking:  is taking a relatively minor event and imagining all sorts of disasters resulting from that one small event. Strategies to defeat this thought patters are:

• Put your thoughts in perspective;
• Consider less terrifying explanations;
• Weight up the evidence;
• Focus on what you can do to cope with the situation, and the people or resources that can come to your aid.

 

No matter how great a travesty you create in your mind, the world's unlikely to end because of it – even if the travesty comes to pass.  You're probably far more capable of surviving embarrassing and painful events than you give yourself credit for – human beings can be very resilient.

 

All or Nothing Thinking:  This type of thinking is the black or white, love you or hate you, perfect or disaster.  This thinking can lead to extreme emotions and behaviors.  Strategies to defeat this thought pattern are:

• Be realistic;
• Develop "both-and" reasoning skills.

 

All or nothing thinking can sabotage goal-directed behavior.  You're far more likely to throw in the towel at the first sign of something blocking your goal when you refuse to allow a margin for error.  Beware of either/or statements and global labels such as "good" and "bad" or "success" and "failure."  Neither people nor life situations are often that cut and dried.

 

Fortune Telling:  This type of thinking is predicting the future outcome.  Unfortunately, the predictions made are usually negative.  You're better off letting the future unfold without trying to guess how it may turn out.  Put the dustcover back on the crystal ball.  Strategies to defeat this thought pattern are:

• Test out your predictions;
• Be prepared to take risks;
• Understand that your past experiences don't determine your future experiences.

 

Typically, fortune telling stops you from taking action.  It can also become a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy.  If you keep telling yourself that you won't enjoy that party, you're liabile to make that prediction come true.  Same goes for meeting new people and trying new things.  So, put on your party gear, ask him out for dinner and book yourself in for some hang-gliding.

 

Mind Reading:  You tend to think you know what other people are thinking.  With mind reading, the tendency is often to assume that others are thinking negative things about you or have negative motives and intentions.  Strategies to defeat this type of thought patters are:

• Generate some alternative reasons for what you see;
• Consider that your guesses may be wrong;
• Get more information (if appropriate).

 

You tend to mind read what you fear most.  Mind reading is a bit like putting a slide in a slide projector.  What you project or imagine is going on in other people's minds is very much based on what's already in yours.

 

Think about these four types of thought patterns and see if your thinking is like any of them.  Again, we need to identify the source of our thoughts and feelings in order to fix them.  This is the first step in that process – identifying the thought patterns that you have.  The next blog will cover the next four types of thinking errors and the blog after that will cover the last four.  Give yourself some time to think about and identify the thinking errors that you have.

[1] Personal Development All-In-One for Dummies