Cognitive Distortions: How Our Minds Can Deceive Us

If you've never seen a picture of really good pavement art, you're missing out. Talented artists — using deliberate shading, color choice and contrast, the right point of view, and extreme skill — create illusions that transform an ordinary street into a raging waterfall, a mysterious cavern, or a fearsome pit of fiery lava. When looked at from the wrong angle, these sometimes terrifying and sometimes alluring deceptions are revealed for what they are. What looks from a certain perspective like a man about to step out into an abyss is simply a man walking along a sidewalk decorated with a fabulous, but otherwise flat, sidewalk drawing.

There are other famous examples of optical illusions. In each of them, our eyes send signals to our brain that our brains misinterpret for us, leaving us with false impressions that can be hard to detect even with scrutiny. Like optical illusions, cognitive distortions can cause us to believe things that aren’t true. But these irrational thoughts can also potentially lead to maladaptive emotions or behaviors—as well as serious mental health challenges.

Cognitive distortions: A source of negative thinking

A cognitive distortion is a way your mind is "playing tricks" on you. And if you accept that your brain can fool you into seeing things that aren't there or not seeing things that are there, it should not be a leap to assert that sometimes in your thinking, you see reality through a false lens.

This is what "cognitive distortions" mean – distorted thinking. It happens automatically when your brain processes your surrounding environment. Because there's so much information surrounding us, our brains rely on mental shortcuts, which can sometimes cause distorted thinking. Later, we'll talk about ten common cognitive distortions and how to start recognizing and overcoming them.

Why do cognitive distortions matter?

It is almost impossible to conduct an honest and serious discussion about the existence of cognitive distortions and their impact on mental health without going back to Dr. David D. Burns. In his groundbreaking book Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy, Burns elaborates on the idea and practices of cognitive therapy, originally explored by Dr. Aaron Beck from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine in the 1960s.

In his book, Dr. Burns asserts the idea that our thoughts are directly responsible for our feelings. Therefore, when someone frequently engages in happy thoughts, they feel happy. However, when someone frequently indulges in negative thoughts, it follows that the person's mood will be negatively affected as well. Or, in other words, thinking unhappy thoughts leads to feeling unhappy feelings. 

How negative thought patterns affect mental health

For example, a person who overgeneralizes may assume that because they’ve experienced an unwanted outcome, future situations will end similarly. This can cause them to develop a negative outlook on life, which may contribute to mental health concerns. (Research shows that overgeneralization is linked to depression and eating disorders.)

Cognitive distortions, therefore, have the power to make you feel unwell in a real sense.

Common cognitive distortions – Emotional reasoning, etc.

Once a cognitive distortion has been identified as the cause of a person's depression or anxiety, they can begin to correct it. An integral component of the healing process is learning to recognize and eliminate cognitive distortions. The following is a list, with brief explanations, of the ten cognitive distortions Burns describes.

1. Engaging in all-or-nothing thinking

This is exactly what it sounds like. Convincing yourself that you must either be perfect, or that you are a failure is destructive because, as they say, nobody's perfect. In debate, this kind of error is called a false dichotomy. When we restrict ourselves to either/or scenarios, we prevent ourselves from seeing all the other options available to us.

2. Overgeneralizing

When you overgeneralize, you assume that because one negative thing happened and that negative occurrence will always happen in future similar situations, you are engaging in this type of thinking. An example would be if you are cheated on by someone with a first name that starts with J, and you then become weary of dating future partners whose names start with J.

3. Mental filtering

This distortion involves filtering out all the positives to focus only on the single negative (for example, a broken chair at an otherwise wonderful party).

4. Disqualifying the positive

In this type of thinking you discount anything that could be construed as good or positive.

5. Jumping to conclusions

Here, you make leaps of logic that are not even suggested by objective facts. Burns provides two subcategories of this cognitive distortion which he refers to as "mind reading" and "fortune telling." When "mindreading" you assume that every negative behavior of other people is somehow attributed to you and your behavior when there could be myriad other explanations for the person's actions, which have nothing to do with you. When you fall into the trap of "fortune telling," you convince yourself that your future is destined to be bad. In both cases, you position yourself as having little agency in your life’s outcomes.

6. Magnifying and minimizing (AKA catastrophizing)

Have you ever heard the expression: "You're making a mountain out of a molehill"? When you catastrophize, you do just that. Conversely, you also engage in the equally harmful thought pattern of diminishing anything positive about yourself or an event.

7. Emotional reasoning

Perhaps the most destructive, you believe your cognitive distortions and take the negative emotions about yourself that follow as the absolute truth.

8. Making "should" statements

Thinking too much about what you or others should or shouldn't do can cause unrealistic expectations. The inevitable failure to live up to them results in negative feelings.

9. Labeling and mislabeling

You define yourself by your mistakes, not taking into account in the slightest that humans are complicated creatures. The worst among us have some good qualities, and the best among us are not without fault.

10. Personalizing

When anything goes wrong, even things completely beyond your control, you consider yourself responsible.

Of course, Burns does not stop at simply providing this list of cognitive distortions. His book goes on to elaborate on strategies for learning how to recognize when you are thinking in accordance with these inherently distorted thoughts. He also offers suggestions for mitigating or eliminating them.

Correcting cognitive distortions

If, as you read the above list of cognitive distortions, you begin to feel that one or more of them applied to you, this is not necessarily a bad or unusual thing. As mentioned above, everyone can engage in this kind of automatic thinking. It's not good that we get caught up in negative and false thoughts, but it is good to realize when we tend to do it. Now you can begin the work of correcting these destructive thought patterns, and, consequently, begin to feel better.

How can you do this? You can always start by conducting an internet search. You'll come up with informative resources on cognitive distortions, cognitive distortions worksheets, and cognitive distortions handouts.

In addition to learning about cognitive distortion, you may find it helpful to jot down your thoughts when you come across them and recognize them. You might start to see a pattern that you can begin to address.

Example: Correcting emotional reasoning

To reframe a cognitive distortion like emotional reasoning, it can help to cultivate increased awareness of your feelings and their effects on your thought process. To do this, consider writing down your thoughts and emotions frequently. Journaling can provide you with a record of how you felt while making a decision or forming a belief. Over time, you may recognize certain negative thought patterns that arise out of specific emotions.

Example: Correcting black-and-white thinking

Addressing all-or-nothing thinking often involves challenging your beliefs. When you’re evaluating a situation, consider whether you’ve identified the most likely outcomes or are focusing on the most extreme possibilities. Regularly making objective assessments can help you avoid black-and-white thinking.

Mental health treatment and negative thoughts

Certain therapeutic modalities, such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) can also be helpful. CBT will help you identify and reframe potentially negative thoughts so that you can respond to them more effectively. If you are serious about tackling and eliminating the cognitive distortions that have caused you so much needless pain, you might benefit from seeing an in-person or online counselor.

Reframing irrational thoughts with a therapist

A trained therapist can guide you through the process of learning to recognize when you are descending into a negative cycle of cognitive distortions and teach you how to respond to them effectively. Through whatever therapy your therapist deems appropriate, such as CBT, you will learn to recognize when cognitive distortions are happening so that you can adjust your behavior as needed. 

Addressing cognitive distortions through online therapy

BetterHelp has over 4,000 licensed therapists, many of whom specialize in CBT and cognitive distortion issues. With BetterHelp, you can work with counselors from the comfort of your own home and in sessions that fit with your busy schedule. 

The efficacy of online therapy for restructuring negative thought patterns

Online CBT continues to show efficacy in supporting people who are going through several challenges related to cognitive distortions, disempowered thought patterns, and other mental health conditions. Recent research has evaluated the effects of internet-delivered CBT compared to face-to-face CBT for depression and found that online CBT is at least as effective as face-to-face CBT.