thinking distortions related to anxiety.pptx

Physcology

1. Thinking distortions & how to overcome on it

2. Common Cognitive Distortions What’s a  cognitive distortion   and why do so many people have them? Cognitive distortions are simply ways that our mind convinces us of something that isn’t really true. These inaccurate thoughts are usually used to reinforce negative thinking or emotions — telling ourselves things that sound rational and accurate, but really only serve to keep us feeling bad about ourselves.

3. Filtering A person engaging in filter (or “mental filtering) takes the negative details and magnifies those details while filtering out all positive aspects of a situation. For instance, a person may pick out a single, unpleasant detail and dwell on it exclusively so that their vision of reality becomes darkened or distorted. When a cognitive filter is applied, the person sees only the negative and ignores anything positive. Example; a depressed Admin associate overhears some work colleagues making fun of her best friend. She becomes furious as her thought dominates: "That's what people are basically like — cruel and insensitive!"

4. Polarized Thinking (or “Black and White” Thinking) In polarized thinking, things are either “black-or-white” — all or nothing. We have to be perfect or we’re a complete and abject failure — there is no middle ground. A person with polarized thinking places people or situations in “either/or” categories, with no shades of gray or allowing for the complexity of most people and most situations. A person with black-and-white thinking sees things only in extremes.

5. Overgeneralization In this cognitive distortion, a person comes to a general conclusion based on a single incident or a single piece of evidence. If something bad happens just once, they expect it to happen over and over again. A person may see a single, unpleasant event as part of a never-ending pattern of defeat. For instance, if a student gets a poor grade on one paper in one semester, they conclude they are a horrible student and should quit school.

6. Jumping to Conclusions Without individuals saying so, a person who jumps to conclusions knows what another person is feeling and thinking — and exactly why they act the way they do. In particular, a person is able to determine how others are feeling toward the person, as though they could read their mind. Jumping to conclusions can also manifest itself as fortune-telling, where a person believes their entire future is pre-ordained (whether it be in school, work, or romantic relationships).   E xample; involving fortune-telling is when a person may anticipate that things will turn out badly in their next relationship, and will feel convinced that their prediction is already an established fact, so why bother dating .

7.   Catastrophizing Catastrophizing is a way of thinking called a ‘cognitive distortion.’ A person who catastrophizes usually sees an unfavorable outcome to an event and then decides that if this outcome does happen, the results will be a disaster. some examples of catastrophizing: “If I fail this test, I will never pass school, and I will be a total failure in life.” “If I don’t recover quickly from this procedure, I will never get better, and I will be disabled my entire life.” “If my partner leaves me, I will never find anyone else, and I will never be happy again.”

8. Personalization A person engaging in personalization may also see themselves as the cause of some unhealthy external event that they were not responsible for. The personalization thinking error involves seeing yourself as the cause of everything negative, even though you are not the one responsible. This often leads to feelings of shame and guilt. For example, “We were late to the dinner party and caused everyone to have a terrible time. If I had only pushed my husband to leave on time, this wouldn’t have happened.”

9. Fallacy of Fairness In the fallacy of fairness, a person feels resentful because they think that they know what is fair, but other people won’t agree with them. As our parents tell us when we’re growing up and something doesn’t go our way, “Life isn’t always fair.” People who go through life applying a measuring ruler against every situation judging its “fairness” will often feel resentful, angry, and even hopelessness because of it. Because life isn’t fair — things will not always work out in a person’s favor, even when they should.

10. Blaming When a person engages in blaming, they hold other people responsible for their emotional pain. They may also take the opposite track and instead blame themselves for every problem — even those clearly outside their own control. For example, “Stop making me feel bad about myself!” Nobody can “make” us feel any particular way — only we have control over our own emotions and emotional reactions.

11. Should Should statements (“I should pick up after myself more…”) appear as a list of ironclad rules about how every person should behave. People who break the rules make a person following these should statements angry. They also feel guilty when they violate their own rules. A person may often believe they are trying to motivate themselves with should and shouldn't, as if they have to be punished before they can do anything. For example, “I really should exercise. I shouldn’t be so lazy.” Musts and ought are also offenders. The emotional consequence is guilt. When a person directs should statements toward others, they often feel anger, frustration and resentment

12. Emotional Reasoning The distortion of emotional reasoning can be summed up by the statement, “If I feel that way, it must be true.” Whatever a person is feeling is believed to be true automatically and unconditionally. If a person feels stupid and boring, then they must be stupid and boring. Emotional reasoning happens when you tend to believe that what you feel is an accurate representation of what is actually happening. Unfortunately our emotions are a really poor indicator of what is happening because our emotions are actually ‘outcomes’ of what we think or perceive about a situation rather than something that determines how we think! Example; You find yourself, out of the blue, having feelings of guilt. You conclude that you MUST have done something wrong or somehow be a ‘bad’ person otherwise you wouldn’t feel guilty.

13. Global Labeling Labeling is a cognitive distortion in which we generalize by taking one characteristic of a person, and applying it to the whole person. Because I failed a test, I am a failure. Because she is frequently late to work, she is irresponsible.  If someone responded in a brusque way, he is a jerk. Rather than more objectively thinking about  the behavior , when we engage in labeling, we globally describe  the whole person . As a result, we view the entire person through the label, such as jerk, and filter out any information that doesn’t fit under the umbrella of the label. This results in the label feeling more apt a descriptor of the person, and we believe it more .

14. Always Being Right When a person engages in this distortion, they are continually putting other people on trial to prove that their own opinions and actions are the absolute correct ones. To a person engaging in “always being right,” being wrong is unthinkable — they will go to any length to demonstrate their rightness.

15. What is over thinking Just like it sounds, overthinking is thinking about something too much or for too long. When you’re searching for a job or competing with coworkers for a promotion, it is easy to spend a lot of time considering cover letters, applications and interviews instead of relaxing and paying more attention to your current job or your family.

16. Why you should stop overthinking thinking too much about your problems, mistakes or shortcomings can increase your risk of health problems. Reducing overthinking can lower stress, help you sleep better and positively affect your career. Stress levels can have a big impact on your work performance. Getting rid of stress can help you increase your motivation, focus on short- and long-term goals and have better interactions with your colleagues. When people are more relaxed, they often feel like they have more control over big decisions and the ways they complete individual tasks. Avoiding overthinking can also help you fall asleep at night as well. Better sleep has many of the same benefits as lower stress levels, including an improved mood, better motivation and more focus. Instead of delaying or avoiding asking for a raise, a promotion or additional training because of overthinking, you should take the actions needed to improve your career.

17. What are Personality Disorders Personality is the way of thinking, feeling and behaving that makes a person different from other people. An individual’s personality is influenced by experiences, environment (surroundings, life situations) and inherited characteristics. A person’s personality typically stays the same over time. A personality disorder is a way of thinking, feeling and behaving that deviates from the expectations of the culture, causes distress or problems functioning, and lasts over time. There are 10 specific types of personality disorders. Personality disorders are long-term patterns of behavior and inner experiences that differs significantly from what is expected. The pattern of experience and behavior begins by late adolescence or early adulthood and causes distress or problems in functioning. Without treatment, personality disorders can be long-lasting. Personality disorders affect at least two of these areas: Way of thinking about oneself and others Way of responding emotionally Way of relating to other people Way of controlling one’s behavior

18. Types of Personality Disorders Antisocial personality disorder: a pattern of disregarding or violating the rights of others. A person with antisocial personality disorder may not conform to social norms, may repeatedly lie or deceive others, or may act impulsively. Avoidant personality disorder: a pattern of extreme shyness, feelings of inadequacy and extreme sensitivity to criticism. People with avoidant personality disorder may be unwilling to get involved with people unless they are certain of being liked, be preoccupied with being criticized or rejected, or may view themselves as not being good enough or socially inept. Borderline personality disorder: a pattern of instability in personal relationships, intense emotions, poor self-image and impulsivity. A person with borderline personality disorder may go to great lengths to avoid being abandoned, have repeated suicide attempts, display inappropriate intense anger or have ongoing feelings of emptiness.

19. Personality Dependent personality disorder: a pattern of needing to be taken care of and submissive and clingy behavior. People with dependent personality disorder may have difficulty making daily decisions without reassurance from others or may feel uncomfortable or helpless when alone because of fear of inability to take care of themselves. Histrionic personality disorder: a pattern of excessive emotion and attention seeking. People with histrionic personality disorder may be uncomfortable when they are not the center of attention, may use physical appearance to draw attention to themselves or have rapidly shifting or exaggerated emotions. Narcissistic personality disorder: a pattern of need for admiration and lack of empathy for others. A person with narcissistic personality disorder may have a grandiose sense of self-importance, a sense of entitlement, take advantage of others or lack empathy.

20. Personality disorder Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder: a pattern of preoccupation with orderliness, perfection and control. A person with obsessive-compulsive personality disorder may be overly focused on details or schedules, may work excessively not allowing time for leisure or friends, or may be inflexible in their morality and values. (This is NOT the same as obsessive compulsive disorder.) Paranoid personality disorder: a pattern of being suspicious of others and seeing them as mean or spiteful. People with paranoid personality disorder often assume people will harm or deceive them and don’t confide in others or become close to them. Schizoid personality disorder: being detached from social relationships and expressing little emotion. A person with schizoid personality disorder typically does not seek close relationships, chooses to be alone and seems to not care about praise or criticism from others. Schizotypal personality disorder: a pattern of being very uncomfortable in close relationships, having distorted thinking and eccentric behavior. A person with schizotypal personality disorder may have odd beliefs or odd or peculiar behavior or speech or may have excessive social anxiety.

21. Conti.. People with BPD also have a tendency to think in extremes, a phenomenon called "dichotomous" or “black-or-white” thinking.2 People with BPD often struggle to see the complexity in people and situations and are unable to recognize that things are often not either perfect or horrible, but are something in between. This can lead to "splitting," which refers to an inability to maintain a cohesive set of beliefs about oneself and others. Because of these extreme patterns of thinking, people with borderline personality are prone to slip from one side to the opposite side in their thinking. For example, they might one day believe that their partner is the most wonderful, loving person in the world, and the next thing that they are evil, hateful and full of contempt. This can harm their potential to hold lasting interpersonal relationships and how they can interact with others. For instance, persons with Paranoid Personality Disorders exhibit suspicious thinking and therefore have difficulty trusting other people. They may misinterpret what other people say or do as intentional attempts to attack them, hurt them, or take advantage of them. In turn, they end up holding grudges and may act in ways that are overly defensive, hostile, or even aggressive. You can imagine this thought pattern will cause a lot of anxiety for the person who is paranoid, and that this type guardedness, defensiveness, and hostility is very unpleasant for the other people around them. Obviously, this type of distrust makes close relationships nearly impossible.

22. People with Schizotypal Personality Disorders exhibit odd beliefs. They might be extremely superstitious and have unusual beliefs in magic or the supernatural. Other people often find such a person odd and eccentric, and may feel uncomfortable being around someone who holds such strange and unusual ideas. People with Schizotypal Personality Disorder sense they are quite different from others and are often aware that other people seem uncomfortable around them. As a result, they have chronic feelings of just not "fitting in.“ People with Narcissistic Personality Disorder exhibit distorted thinking when they go back and forth between over-idealizing themselves, and then completely devaluing themselves. In addition, they have a tendency to over-estimate the importance or significance of their abilities and talents. Persons with a Narcissistic Personality Disorder frequently have fantasies of having unlimited power, success, or special talents. These over-idealized beliefs about themselves can cause them to behave in ways that are arrogant, ruthless, and entitled. Such behavior frequently causes a lot of conflict with others. For example, a person with a Narcissistic Personality Disorder may ignore the social custom of waiting in a queue to purchase a ticket. Instead, they will march to the front of the queue, believing they are more important than the other people in line and are therefore entitled to special treatment. Of course, the people waiting politely in the queue do not respond well and conflict erupts.