I’m back as promised, with Part 2 of my last post! I was hoping you would come back, so thank you!
What are cognitive distortions?
Remember we started talking about anxiety and how it impacts us in so many different ways? Well it starts with a thought…usually a negative or irrational thought.
These irrational thoughts are cognitive distortions. Cognitive distortions are thinking patterns that can negatively impact how we see ourselves and the world around us. Some examples of cognitive distortions include magnification and minimization, overgeneralization, magical thinking, personalization, mind reading, fortune telling, emotional reasoning, disqualifying the positive, should statements, and all-or-nothing thinking ( https://www.therapistaid.com/worksheets/cognitive-distortions).
Yes, you guessed it. These cognitive distortions produce anxiety.
You have to challenge these thoughts immediately to prevent them from taking control of your energy!
When I have irrational thoughts, my way of challenging the validity of the thought is to ask myself, “Who said that?!”
This question makes me realize that I have no real evidence for the thought.
You have to challenge these thoughts immediately to prevent them from taking control of your energy!
How do you challenge these thoughts?
In therapy, we call this cognitive restructuring. Here are the steps of this process:
- Identify the thought.
- Challenge the thought by asking yourself questions. (Examples: Who said that? What evidence do you have to support this thought? Are you thinking of the worst case scenario or the most likely case scenario? Is my thought based on facts or feelings?)
- Restructure the thought to be more rational.
- Repeat the new thought as much as possible to replace the original thought.
Now, keep in mind that this is not a quick process to learn. You will have to practice it, so please be patient with yourself.
Okay, I dont want to lose you, so I’ll stop here. We’ll revisit this another time!
Come back soon!
Your Biggest Cheerleader,
Dr. E
