You think about yourself or the world in black-or-white, all-or-nothing categories. Shades of gray do not exist. This is also known as “dichotomous” thinking. For example, you tell yourself, “I’m a total failure” after flunking an exam.

Overgeneralization. You think about a negative event as a never-ending pattern of defeat or a positive event as a never-ending pattern of success. For example, you label yourself “unlovable” after a breakup.

Mental Filtering. You focus on something bad and filter out all the positives—or you focus on something positive and ignore all the negatives. For example, you get one low rating in a job evaluation and conclude you’re doing a lousy job.

Discounting the Positive/Negative. You tell yourself that certain negative or positive facts don’t count to maintain a negative or positive image of yourself or the situation. For example, someone compliments you, and you tell yourself, “They’re just saying that to be nice.” Feelings of inferiority nearly always result from mental filtering and discounting the positive. 

Jumping to Conclusions. You jump to conclusions that aren’t warranted by the facts. There are two common versions of this distortion.

Magnification and Minimization. You blow things out of proportion or shrink their importance inappropriately. This is also called the “binocular trick” because things look much bigger or much smaller depending on what end of the binoculars you look through.

Emotional Reasoning. You reason from how you feel. This can be very misleading because your feelings result entirely from your thoughts and not from external reality. For example, because you feel like an idiot, you reason you must be one. 

 Should Statements. You make yourself miserable with shoulds, musts, or ought tos. Self-directed shoulds cause feelings of guilt, shame, depression, and worthlessness. Other-directed shoulds trigger feelings of anger and frustration toward others. World-directed shoulds cause feelings of anger and frustration toward the world.

Labeling. You label yourself or others so you see your entire self (or someone else) as totally defective or superior. For example, when you make a mistake, you call yourself a “loser” instead of saying, “I made a mistake.”

In fact, this is why people often resist treatment. Their negative thoughts and feelings can be helpful and appropriate because they reflect their core values as a humans.

1. What are some benefits or advantages of this negative thought or feeling? How might it be helping you?
2. What does this negative thought or feeling show about you and your core values that’s positive and awesome?