Unhealthy Thinking Styles
There are lots of ways that our mind convinces us of believing things (usually about ourselves) that aren’t really true. We really believe the way we are thinking is rational and accurate even when all the evidence tells us they are not accurate. These thoughts just keep us feeling bad about ourselves. Here are 10 of the most common thinking traps. Do any of them sound familiar? Can you think of some examples?
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Assuming we know what others are thinking (usually about us)
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Sometimes called ‘black and white thinking’. Believing that something or someone can be only good or bad, right or wrong, rather than anything in-between or ‘shades of grey’.
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Discounting the good things that have happened or that you have done for some reason or another
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There are two key types of jumping to conclusions:
• Mind reading (imagining we know what others are thinking)
• Fortune telling (predicting the future)
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Blowing things out of proportion (catastrophising), or inappropriately shrinking something to make it seem less important
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Blaming yourself for events or situations that are not (totally) our responsibility or imagining that someone else did something because of you..
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Using critical words like ‘should’, ‘must’, or ‘ought’ can make us feel guilty, or like we have already failed
If we apply ‘shoulds’ to other people the result is often frustration
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Only paying attention to certain types of evidence. Noticing our failures but not seeing our successes. We notice only what the filter allows or wants us to notice, and we dismiss anything that doesn’t ‘fit’. More likely dwelling on the negatives and ignoring the positives
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Seeing a pattern based upon a single event, or being overly broad in the conclusions we draw.
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Assuming that because we feel a certain way what we think must be true. I feel embarrassed so I must be an idiot