Dr. David Burns, author of Feeling Good and his latest book Feeling Great identified the 10 most common distortions that contribute to one’s negative feeling state such as feeling scared, depressed, or anxious.
How You Feel is Determined by What You Think
According to Dr. Burns, how a person feels is determined by what a person thinks, so if you change what you think, you will change how you feel.
So for instance, a passenger on an airplane that is experiencing turbulence can tell himself that he is in an extremely dangerous situation and he can remind himself of all of the terrible airtravel tragedies that ended with the plane careening and crashing into the ground and exploding in a ball of fire killing all of the passengers and crew instantly. This person will obviously feel panic-stricken and extremely anxious.
On the other hand, if this same passenger would tell himself that the pilot obviously has a great deal of experience handling turbulence, that turbulence is a common occurrence on airline flights, and that it will likely pass quickly, then he will feel much more calm and serene and will more easily be able to endure the experience with much less stress to the nervous system.
Here you have a classic case of what you think determines how you feel.
Dr. Burns takes it a step further by teaching that our thoughts can be influenced by distortions.
Here he outlines the 10 most common cognitive (thought) distortions:
All Or Nothing Thinking
This is when you look at things in absolute, black-and-white categories. So in our airplane example, the person cannot see things in shades of grey. Meaning, in his mind the plane is either going to crash or it is going to coast smoothly without nary a bump. This is clearly not realistic as all flights experience a modicum of turbulence, some more and some less.
Over Generalization
This is when you view a negative event as a never-ending pattern of defeat. The passenger on our example flight might use Overgeneralization in thinking that it figures that his plane should crash, after all…”I’m a magnet for bad luck!”
A Mental Filter
This is a distortion that compels you to dwell on the negatives. Therefore, going back to our passenger, he can only see the “Fasten Seat Belt” sign turned on, and the worried looks on some of the passenger’s faces. He remembers that it was cold outside and that sometimes ice can damage the fuselage. He might think about the birds he noticed around the runway and imagine that the plane has encountered a “bird strike.”
Discounting the Positive
This is the inverse of the Mental Filter. When one discounts the positive he or she insists that their accomplishments or positive qualities don’t count. To apply to discount the positive in our example, our passenger would not take into account that the pilot has likely logged thousands of hours or that the plane itself has been designed to withstand tremendous turbulence, or that 1000’s of flights are completed each and every day with turbulence and all of them touch down successfully. Or that there hasn’t been a major plane crash in years. Or that one is likely safer flying than driving in a car.
Jumping to Conclusions
This involves two sub-categories: Firstly, Mind Reading–You assume that people are reacting negatively to you when there’s no definite evidence. Secondly, Fortune Telling–You arbitrarily predict that things will turn out badly. Our passenger might not be mind-reading (although he may if he imagines that the pilot, the crew, and everyone else on board is also freaking out), but he is very likely fortune-telling and is convinced that he knows the ending of this story, which in his mind ends, again, with the plane falling from the sky and with everyone dying a terrible awful death.
Magnification or Minimization
Relates to when you blow things way out of proportion or you shrink their importance. Our passenger might take every little light, bell, creak, or squeak to indicate that the end is most certainly near if he is using Magnification. On the other hand, if he is using Minimization, he might minimize the fact that the crew seems perfectly calm and at ease, that the bumps are intermittent, that the Captain hasn’t had to turn on the Fasten Seat Belt sign or he might minimize the routine nature of some expected turbulence.
Emotional Reasoning
This is when you reason from how you feel as in: “I feel terrified and as if I am about to die!” Just because you feel a certain way does not make it true.
Should Statements
This means that you filter everything through the use of words such as “should” “shouldn’t” “ought” and “must,” etc. “This shouldn’t be happening!” “The flight should be totally smooth!” “They should be doing more.”
Labeling
This relates to when instead of saying “I made a mistake” you tell yourself “I’m a jerk,” “I’m a loser,” I’m a fool!” In the example we have been using the passenger might have labeled the flight itself as “DOOMED!”
Personalization and Blame
This is when you blame yourself or others for something you or they were not entirely responsible for, or when you deny your or others’ role in the problem. The passenger might tell himself that the pilot is to blame and will become focused on that, it will be much harder for him to then be able to focus on anything positive and he will continue to feel scared, hopeless, etc.
These Distortions Cause Thinking to Become Pessimistic and Negatively Impact Your Relationships
Now all of these distortions that we enumerated will cause a person’s thinking to become quite negative, pessimistic, and unrealistic. Identifying the distortions in one’s thoughts can help you to use a more positive, optimistic, and realistic approach to considering your situation which inevitably will result in your experiencing less anxiety, less depression, less low-self esteem, less hopelessness and helplessness, and greater joy, optimism, and confidence.
I encourage you to look into Dr, Burns’ work, listen to his podcast “The Feeling Good Podcast” and read his books which will ultimately give you the tools to enable you to identify which common cognitive distortions you readily apply to the things that happen to you in your life and to employ a more positive and supportive way of thinking for yourself.
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