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Depression blog
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March 31, 2009
Cognitive behavioral therapy: Thinking errors
By Gabrielle J. Melin, M.D.
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Cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT, is just one of many types of talk therapy that can be used effectively to treat depression as well as anxiety and other mental illnesses. In my last blog post, I went over five specific types of thinking errors that can worsen mood, including all or none thinking, over generalization, mental filter, rejecting the positive and jumping to conclusions.
In this post, I will discuss five other thinking errors. These include:
- Magnification or minimizing. You magnify (blow out of proportion) your own human errors and others' successes. Alternatively, you minimize (discount) your successes and good qualities while minimizing other's mistakes.
- Should statements. This leads to anger, guilt, frustration and resentment. Attempting to motivate yourself by saying should or shouldn't is like saying you have/need to be punished in order to do something. "I should have done more to help," does you no good in the long run.
- Emotional reasoning. If you feel a certain way then that means it is true. "I feel bad, so it must be true and I am a bad person."
- Labeling and mislabeling. An even more extreme form of over generalizing. Saying "I'm a loser" after making one mistake is attaching an inaccurate label to oneself. Mislabeling could be calling another person "lazy" when describing their behavior.
- Blame and personalization. This is when you take personal responsibility for something that is not in your control. An example could be blaming oneself for a spouse's medical illness by saying, "I am to blame, if only I had made him/her exercise more."
As you can see, these thinking errors can contribute to worsening mood. Things didn't get to this point overnight, so it will take some time to change your thinking. Cognitive behavioral therapy is a powerful tool. It's not for everyone but is effective in treating depression. Work with a trained health professional to determine the best type of therapy and treatment plan for you. Best of luck to you all and please share your experiences.
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