15
STYLES
OF
DISTORTED
THINKING
1. FILTERING:
2. POLARIZED THINKING:
3. OVERGRNERALIZATION:
4. MIND READING:
5. CATASTROPHIZING:
6. PERSONALIZATION:
7. CONTROL FALLACIES:
8. FALLACY OF FAIRNESS:
9. BLAMING:
10. SHOULDS:
11. EMOTIONAL REASONING:
12. FALLACY OF CHANGE:
13. GLOBAL LABELING:
14. BEING RIGHT:
15. HEAVEN'S REWARD FALLACY:
SECTION 1
1. FILTERING:
You take the negative details and magnify them while
filtering out all positive aspects of a situation.
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SECTION 2
2. POLARIZED THINKING:
Things are black or white, good or bad.
You have to be perfect or you're a failure.
There is no middle ground.
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SECTION 3
3. OVERGENERALIZATION:
You come to a general conclusion based on
a single incident or piece of evidence.
If something bad happens once you expect
it to happen over and over again.
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SECTION 4
4. MIND READING:
Without their saying so, you know what people
are feeling and why they act the way they do.
In particular, you are able to divine how
people are feeling toward you.
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SECTION 5
5. CATASTROPHIZING:
You expect disaster. You notice or hear about
a problem and start "what if's:".
What if tragedy strikes?
What if it happens to you?"
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SECTION 6
6. PERSONALIZATION:
Thinking that everything people do or
say is some kind of reaction to you.
You also compare yourself to others,
trying to determine who's smarter,
better looking,etc.
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SECTION 7
7. CONTROL FALLACIES:
If you fell externally controlled,
you see yourself as helpless, a victim
of fate. The fallacy of internal control
has you responsible for the pain and
happeness of everyone around you.
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SECTION 8
8. FALLACY OF FAIR:
You feel resentful because you think
you know what's fair but other people
won't agree with you.
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SECTION 9
9. BLAMING:
You hold other people responsible
for your pain, or take the other
tack and blame yourself for every
problem or reversal.
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SECTION 10
10. SHOULDS:
You have a list of ironclad rules about
how you and other people should act.
People who break the rules anger you and
you feel guilty if you violate the rules.
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SECTION 11
11. EMOTIONAL REASONAL:
You believe that what you feel must
be true-automatically. If you feel
stupid and boring, then you must be
stupid and boring.
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SECTION 12
12. FALLACY OF CHANGE:
You expect that other people will change
to suit you if you just pressure or cajole
them enough. You need to change people
because your hopes for happiness seem
to depend entirely on them.
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SECTION 13
13. GLOBAL LABELING:
You generalize one or two qualities into
a negative global judgment.
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SECTION 14
14. BEING RIGHT:
You are continually on trial to prove
your opinions and actions are correct.
Being wrong is unthinkable and you will
go to any length to demonstrate your
rightness.
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SECTION 15
15. HEAVEN'S REWARD FALLACY:
You expect all your sacrifice and self-denial
to pay off, as if there were someone keeping
score. You feel bitter when the reward doesn't
come.
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