How to Reframe Black and White Thinking and become less emotionally reactive
Curated from: Therapy in a Nutshell
Ideas, facts & insights covering these topics:
3 ideas
·1.06K reads
21
Explore the World's Best Ideas
Join today and uncover 100+ curated journeys from 50+ topics. Unlock access to our mobile app with extensive features.
Black and white thinking
- Thinking in extremes. Using words like always, never, must, should, horrible, perfect etc
- This type of thinking results in extreme emotions and can make a situation worse.
- The key to resolve black and white thinking is to look at reality in a more nuanced manner and get honest with ourselves
- Instead of saying ‘you never do something’ say that ‘she does these sometimes’.
18
378 reads
Why do we think in ‘black or white’
- It justifies you.
- It excuses you from work.
- It protects you from feelings extreme emotions like disappointment, sadness etc.
- It helps you feel powerless.
- It kinda feels good.
15
374 reads
Reframing black and white thinking
- Notice extreme words like 'always', 'never', 'horrible' etc.
- Take a deep breath and slow down.
- Name the emotion - like I feel angry, for example I feel
- Reframe your thoughts by -
- Use both/and - You can feel two emotions at the same time. Eg I am smart and valuable but i make mistakes too.
- Look for exceptions like "my husband does the dishes sometimes"
- Be specific about the problem. Specify what’s troubling you. Instead of saying 'everything is horrible' describe what specifically is horrible.
- Be accountable. What can be done to help the situation
19
310 reads
IDEAS CURATED BY
CURATOR'S NOTE
Reframe your thinking to see reality as more nuanced and varied.
“
Kalpana Sharma's ideas are part of this journey:
Learn more about psychology with this collection
The role of coffee in social interactions
Different types of coffee and their preparation
The impact of coffee on society and economy
Related collections
Similar ideas
11 ideas
9 ideas
6 ideas
Read & Learn
20x Faster
without
deepstash
with
deepstash
with
deepstash
Personalized microlearning
—
100+ Learning Journeys
—
Access to 200,000+ ideas
—
Access to the mobile app
—
Unlimited idea saving
—
—
Unlimited history
—
—
Unlimited listening to ideas
—
—
Downloading & offline access
—
—
Supercharge your mind with one idea per day
Enter your email and spend 1 minute every day to learn something new.
I agree to receive email updates