What Are Irrational Thoughts And How Can I Combat Them?
As humans, it's not uncommon to experience occasional irrational thoughts that are driven by emotion, cognitive distortions, or ingrained misconceptions, leading us to misinterpret reality in ways that can impact mental health, relationships, and daily functioning. In some cases, consistent patterns of irrational thinking can even be a sign of a mental health condition.
However, it can be tricky to identify these thoughts as they occur, as they often blend seamlessly into our regular thought processes, masquerading as rational reactions to the world around us. Recognizing and challenging these distortions is essential for personal growth and well-being.
Here, you’ll find a guide to the nature of irrational thoughts and the forms they can take, as well as a comprehensive guide to overcoming them—both in the moment and long-term. By understanding and addressing these unhelpful thought patterns, you’ll be better equipped to build a healthier, more adaptive view of yourself and the world around you.
What are irrational thoughts?
Also known as cognitive distortions, irrational thoughts are patterns of thinking that are illogical or not based on reality. These thoughts often stem from ingrained beliefs or cognitive biases and can lead to negative emotions and behaviors. For example, you may believe you'll never succeed despite evidence of your capabilities, or assume that a friend is angry with you without any concrete proof.
They are typically exaggerated, all-or-nothing views of situations, and may be associated with mental health challenges like anxiety, depression, or stress. Recognizing these thoughts is the first step towards addressing them, as it allows us to challenge and reframe our perspective, fostering a more balanced and realistic outlook on life.
Irrational thoughts vs intrusive thoughts: Understanding the difference
While irrational thinking describes certain kinds of unhelpful thought patterns, intrusive thoughts are sudden, unwanted thoughts that can be distressing. Iintrusive thoughts are a common and normal experience; however, excessive or particularly upsetting intrusive thoughts can be a feature of certain mental health disorders, including depression, anxiety disorders, and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
10 common cognitive distortions
Irrational thoughts come in various forms, each influencing behavior and emotional well-being in distinct ways. Here are some common types:
Catastrophizing: Imagining the worst possible outcome in any situation, even if it's highly unlikely.
Overgeneralization: Drawing broad conclusions from a single event or piece of evidence, often using words like "always" or "never."
All-or-nothing thinking: Seeing things in black and white categories. If a situation falls short of perfect, it's seen as a total failure.
Mind reading: Assuming you know what others are thinking without sufficient evidence, often leading to negative conclusions about how others view you.
“Should” statements: Using "should," "ought," or "must" to place unreasonable demands on yourself or others, leading to guilt and frustration.
Labeling: Attaching a negative label to yourself or others based on a single event. It's an extreme form of overgeneralization.
Fortune-telling: Predicting things will turn out badly without evidence to support this conclusion.
Personalization: Believing that everything others do or say is some kind of direct, personal reaction to you.
Emotional reasoning: Believing that if you feel a certain way, it must be true. For instance, feeling like a failure means you are a failure.
Discounting the positive: Rejecting positive experiences by insisting they "don't count" for some reason, maintaining a negative belief despite evidence to the contrary.
Identifying these types of irrational thoughts can help in challenging and ultimately changing them, leading to better emotional health and more effective coping strategies.
How to challenge negative thought patterns with cognitive restructuring
There are several ways that you may be able to challenge negative thought patterns and find relief.
First, it may be helpful to work through the cognitive restructuring process as you encounter these unhelpful thoughts. Cognitive restructuring involves identifying, challenging, and altering negative and irrational thoughts. Here’s a quick breakdown of the process:
Identify the irrational thought
Begin by recognizing when your thoughts might not accurately reflect reality. Often, these are the thoughts that are absolute or overly negative. They may also be based on your feelings or past experiences rather than clear evidence. If you’re unsure what an irrational thought might look or feel like, it may help to familiarize yourself with the cognitive distortions mentioned in this article.
Assess the thought
Evaluate the evidence supporting and contradicting your thought.
- How realistic is this thought?
- What evidence do I have that this can happen in the present?
- Why am I having this thought?
- Is there a better way to phrase this?
- How does this thought impact me emotionally?
This exercise might help you move out of an emotional state and assess the situation more clearly. It may be helpful to write your thoughts down in a journal, or use a CBT worksheet. If you are having trouble working through these thoughts, it may help to seek the outside perspective of a friend, loved one, or therapist.
Challenge the thought
Once you've assessed the thought, actively dispute its validity. Use evidence and logic to argue against it. For example, if your thought was "I'll never be good at anything," you might challenge this by listing your past successes, no matter how small.
Other strategies for combating irrational thinking
Cognitive restructuring can be an effective way to combat irrational thought patterns. However, there are some other strategies that may be worth incorporating into your daily life:
Gratitude exercises
Gratitude exercises can be another effective way to counteract negative thinking patterns. In fact, Research has found that gratitude is associated with better mental health and quality of life outcomes. Writing in a gratitude journal is a simple and effective gratitude practice. For example, you could make note of three things that you are grateful for everyday, such as your pets, someone who complimented you, or a positive characteristic about yourself. You might also consider sharing your love and appreciation for your friends and loved ones.
Mindfulness
Mindfulness is a skill that can help you gain awareness and control over your thoughts. While it can take consistent effort to learn, eventually you may learn to notice when you're slipping into negative or irrational thinking and gently guide your mind back to a state of presence and acceptance, reducing the impact of such thoughts. You can learn meditation through guided meditation, mindful breathing, or even self-study. For a more intensive approach, you might consider Mindfulness-based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) or Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR).
Problem-solving skills
When irrational thoughts are linked to real concerns, use problem-solving strategies to address the underlying issues. This might involve identifying an issue, brainstorming possible solutions, evaluating these options, and implementing a plan. This approach helps tackle challenges methodically, reducing anxiety and promoting a sense of control.
Self-compassion exercises
Self-compassion can help you recognize that everyone has irrational thoughts and it’s part of being human. You can cultivate this skill with self-compassion exercises such as self-soothing, writing compassionate letters to oneself, or mindful self-compassion meditations.
Exposure
If you have irrational thoughts or fears related to certain situations, it can be helpful to gradually expose yourself to the situations you fear in a controlled way. For example, someone who experiences negative thoughts related to social situations may start by striking up a conversation with an acquaintance or attending a small gathering with friends. In time, they may feel comfortable participating in more challenging social scenarios, such as attending parties.
When to seek help
If you find that irrational thoughts and negative patterns are significantly impacting your daily life, causing distress, or limiting your ability to function, it might be time to seek the help of a mental health professional.
Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is specifically designed to help you learn to identify, assess, and challenge negative thoughts, and is backed by an abundance of research demonstrating its effectiveness in treating a wide range of mental health conditions, including anxiety and depression.
With online therapy platforms like BetterHelp, you can find therapists specializing in CBT and attend sessions from the comfort of home. Online therapy is known to be just as effective as in-person sessions, and tends to be more affordable. With BetterHelp, therapy is always within reach—in addition to weekly virtual sessions, you’ll have access to resources like therapy homework, interactive journaling, and counselor-led support groups, enhancing the therapy experience and providing more tools for personal growth and self-help.
Takeaway
What are examples of irrational thoughts?
Some examples of irrational thoughts include the following.
- My coworker has not replied to me, therefore they hate me and think I’m terrible at my job.
- My friends don’t like me, they hang out with me out of pity.
- I’m not creative or talented enough to participate in my hobbies.
- I am a burden to others and no one loves me.
- It would be impossible for me to find loving relationships.
How do you control irrational thoughts?
To overcome irrational thoughts, it’s good to learn what irrational thinking patterns look like. This can help you recognize when your perception has been altered and how it has changed. Once you’ve learned to identify these patterns, you can stop them before they spiral by consciously choosing to take a moment and pause, then asking yourself rational questions such as “Is this likely” or “If a friend told me this, would I consider it reasonable?” From there, you can replace the distorted thoughts with a reasonable thought that is either neutral or positive.
For example, say you have the thought, “I’m terrible at my job and I’m going to be fired” after making a mistake. Take a moment, pause, and think about this reaction. It might be an example of magnification (making a small fact the central focus) or catastrophizing (coming to the worst case scenario before any others). Ask yourself, “Would I tell a friend they were going to be fired for a simple mistake?” After considering this, you can replace this thought with the more constructive version, “I made a mistake that is not productive for my work, so in the future, I know not to do that again and I can learn from it.”
What is an irrational way of thinking?
There are many ways to come to irrational beliefs, but some of the most common feature cognitive distortions, also called cognitive biases. These are thinking patterns rooted in emotion and biased by our perception rather than being logical or evidence-based.
Some common cognitive distortions include
- Black-and-white thinking - viewing a situation with no nuance or context as having only one “right” answer.
- Jumping to conclusions - assuming the ending of a situation without waiting for the details to become clear.
- Self-pressuring or “should-ing and must-ing” - using self-critical language that places undue responsibility and pressure on yourself.
- Mental filtering - selectively focusing on one or a few smaller aspects of a situation without considering the entire context.
- Overgeneralization - applying the judgment or outcome of a single situation to all similar situations.
- Magnification and minimization - putting significant focus on the negative aspects of a situation or yourself and deliberately pulling focus away from the positive aspects.
- Catastrophizing - expecting immediately the worst possible result of a situation.
What triggers irrational thoughts?
Some research suggests that irrational thoughts are linked to stress, emotional injury, or trauma. They can also be a symptom of mental health conditions like anxiety, depression, and other disorders. Rumination, or looping negative thoughts, tends to happen when we are trying to process a situation that we are deeply troubled or concerned by, but this often leads to unproductive thought spiraling that only makes us feel bad.
Why do irrational thoughts feel so real?
Irrational thinking is often fueled by emotional reasoning rather than logical reasoning, which can make them feel more “real” even when they are completely unrealistic and unlikely. There are even scenarios where we misinterpret emotional reasoning as logical reasoning, which can make it more difficult to spot that an irrational thought pattern is happening.
Why is irrational thinking bad?
Irrational thinking can lead to self-destructive behavior such as isolation and letting personal hygiene fall by the wayside. This behavior can have a noticeable effect on your mental, emotional, and physical health, which can then make the spiraling thoughts worse and create a negative cycle that is difficult to get out of.
What are 5 irrational examples?
Some examples of irrational thought include
- There’s no hope of me ever losing weight because I’ve never done it before.
- This symptom I’m experiencing is one of the symptoms of a serious disease, therefore I have this serious disease and I’m going to die.
- My opinion doesn’t matter because I am a terrible, stupid person.
- I must be on my best behavior at all times or no one will ever like me.
- I have to get a perfect score on this test or I’m going to fail the entire class.
In order, these are examples of
- Generalization (having never done something before doesn’t mean you are incapable of doing it)
- Jumping to conclusions (many conditions share symptoms, and showing a single symptom is not enough to diagnose any condition)
- Magnification and minimization (the average person is not wholly “terrible” or “stupid,” but simply a flawed human being with good and bad qualities)
- Self-pressuring (no one expects you to be perfect at all times - you can be liked even when you aren’t on your “best behavior”)
- Black-and-white thinking (there is usually a range of success that can mean passing a class, even if your score on a particular test isn’t perfect)
How do I stop irrational anxiety?
Taking the time to logically dissect negative thought patterns can help settle irrational anxiety by proving them to be false and providing room for positive and constructive thinking.
A helpful way to do this is to try a technique from cognitive behavioral therapy. Ask yourself three questions: what is the best outcome for this situation, what is the worst-case scenario, and what is most likely to happen? This technique is sometimes called guided imagery and can help you get a more realistic interpretation of events and cut off emotional reasoning.
What emotions are irrational?
To some degree, all emotions are irrational. That being said, some of the most irrational emotions are the ones that often include strong physiological responses, as they can quickly become overwhelming and make it difficult to recover logical reasoning quickly. These include anger, fear, and sadness or despair.
Why do people experience irrationality?
Human beings tend to be naturally “present-focused,” or more inclined to consider what is happening right now rather than what might happen in the future, especially when emotions are involved, as we also tend to have trouble predicting our emotional responses to situations without first experiencing them. This stems from the fact that emotions are complex and influenced by a range of factors from biological makeup to personal experience and environment. This present-focused mindset can mean that we predict the future based on present feelings and situations rather than logical progressions and predictions for future events, which can distort our thinking.
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