Understanding and Challenging Cognitive Distortions, and their Corrective Techniques
In this post, I would like to offer an in-depth summary of typical cognitive-behavioural distortions, and their accompanying cognitive-behavioural tools to challenge and re-orient these distortions into more adaptive perspectives of the self, the world, and the future; furthermore, these tools can be used to address other cognitive assumptions that produce unhealthy patterns of thought and behaviour, which can be recognized and addressed in similar ways, for each individual and their circumstances. The list of cognitive-behavioural distortions is as follows:
Filtering – Focusing on the negative and/or ignoring the positive.
Catastrophizing – Focusing on and expecting worst case scenarios without corroborating evidence.
Polarized Thinking – All-or-nothing thinking, and/or ignoring the complexity in life.
Heaven’s Reward Fallacy – Expecting self-sacrifice to always be rewarded.
Control Fallacy – Assume always self or always others to blame for negative circumstances.
Always Being Right – Being wrong is unacceptable, and being right supersedes all other factors.
Fallacy of Fairness – Assumes that life is always fair or unfair.
Personalization – Always assumes self to be responsible without corroborating evidence.
Overgeneralization – Assuming rules or reasons from one scenario apply to all others.
Jumping to Conclusions – Making assumptions for situation or self based on little or no evidence.
Emotional Reasoning – “If I feel this way, it must be true”.
Blaming – Always assumes others to be responsible without corroborating evidence.
Fallacy of Change – Always expecting others to change according to what you desire.
Global Labelling – Extreme generalization beyond situational elements to philosophical principles.
“Shoulds” – Personal rules of behaviour based on unrealistic assumptions that also apply to others.
These cover most or all of the main cognitive-behavioural distortions that people struggle with, and some of the rules or mindsets that influence how they think and act in the world. One will note that most of these distortions are either based on false assumptions about reality, or unrealistic expectations on the self, the world (others), or the future.
Following these distortions will be the list of typical cognitive-behavioural tools to address them, which can manifest themselves differently according to the individual, their unique life circumstances, and the therapeutic relationship that has been established in the clinical setting. These tools are:
1. Journaling – Self-reflection and identifying thought/behaviour patterns.
2. Nightmare Exposure and Rescripting – Addresses nightmares or catastrophizing and develops new responses to these perceived stimuli.
3. Relaxed Breathing – Exercises to calm the self, and focus attention on body and thoughts.
4. Play the Script Out – Reflect on worst case scenarios and understand reasons for fear, anxiety, and how to cope with them.
5. Unravelling Cognitive Distortions – Specifically identifying and challenging faulty thought patterns.
6. Progressive Muscle Relaxation – Another exercise to calm the self and focus on bodily sensations.
7. Cognitive Restructuring – Explores causes for faulty thought processes and reframe or restructure the cognitive elements producing this process.
8. Introceptive Exposure – Purposeful exposure to panic or anxiety sensations to instill new understanding of lack of danger with feeling a certain way.
9. Exposure and Response Prevention – Purposefully exposing oneself to practice mindfully controlling responses to exercise greater agency and new understandings.
Now that we are equipped with a better understanding of the typical cognitive-behavioural distortions, and their corresponding cognitive-behavioural tools to address them, individuals who struggle with any of these concepts should be better able to consolidate their presenting issues with the help and guidance of psychotherapist. It is important to remember, again, that how each distortion manifests itself with vary uniquely across individuals, and so too will the process to address them using the appropriate tools. This means that, while we should always strive for self-awareness and self- improvement, we should also allow ourselves the necessary self-compassion and allowance for struggles in our journey to self-betterment.