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Depression blog
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March 26, 2009
Cognitive distortions: Dealing with inaccurate thoughts
By Gabrielle J. Melin, M.D.
We will continue our series on cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and how it can help to manage your depression.
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Cognitive distortions can be so ingrained that they become "core beliefs" that you live by. An example is "I have never been successful at anything, so why even try?"
Some specific examples of cognitive distortions are:
- All or none thinking. You see things in black and white. If you don't finish something perfectly, then you're a complete failure. Things in life are either wonderful or terrible.
- Over generalization. You may conclude that since a single negative event occurred in the past that it will occur over and over again. Say you have a disagreement with someone important in your life and you conclude that this person doesn't understand or care about you. You then over generalize by assuming that this person never cared, never will and then may conclude that no one every will understand or care.
- Jumping to conclusions. You interpret something negatively (incorrectly) even though you have no facts or evidence to support the conclusion. One way to reconcile this would be to check out the situation and gather information instead of assuming.
- Mental filter. You focus on one negative detail so intently that your whole outlook on the situation is negative. If you make a good meal and overcook the bread, then you only focus on the "bad" bread instead of the rest of the meal that was enjoyed.
- Rejecting the positive. You reject positive experiences and hold firmly that they "don't count" for one reason or another. You don't allow yourself to enjoy positive feelings as you tell yourself that a bad or negative feeling is sure to follow. You end up feeling bad about feeling good.
In my next blog post, I'll conclude with five other thinking errors that can worsen mood.
Do you identify with any of the examples above? If so, cognitive behavioral therapy may be a tool that can help you to effectively manage your depression. Discuss this option with your health care provider. Depending on the severity of your depression, medication or other types of treatments may be recommended in addition to or other than therapy. And please share with the group if you've found cognitive behavioral therapy helpful.
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