Negative Thought Processes

Distorted negative thinking refers to patterns of thought that are irrational, unrealistic, and often lead to negative emotions and behaviors. These distorted thoughts are not based on facts or reality, but rather on cognitive biases and faulty assumptions. They can contribute to depression, anxiety, and other mental health issues.

Negative thoughts cause negative emotions. Negative emotions result in negative physiological reactions or behaviors. The aim is to change our thought patterns, conscious and unconscious beliefs, attitudes, and, ultimately, our behavior to help us face difficulties and achieve our goals. But, we must use a hands-on approach that requires BOTH of us to be invested in the process and willing to participate actively. We both have to CHOOSE to work as a team to identify the problems you face, develop strategies for addressing them, and create positive solutions.

Thought ----> Emotions ----> Physical Reactions/Behaviors

What are Negative Thought Processes?

There are 15 main negative thought processes or patterns that can trick your brain into thinking in a negative way. Negative thoughts cause negative emotions, and persistent inaccurate negative thoughts can lead to a pattern of feeling low.

Filtering

Filtering refers to the way a person can ignore all the positive aspects in life to focus solely on the negative. It's a trap of dwelling on just the negative aspects of a situation, even if there is also an abundance of good aspects.

Black-and-White Thinking

This is an all-or-nothing type of thinking, with no room for complexity or nuance - everything is either black or white, never a shade of gray.

Overgeneralization

This happens when one takes a single incident or point in time and uses it as the sole piece of evidence for a broad conclusion.

Jumping to Conclusions

Similar to overgeneralization, this distortion involves faulty reasoning in how one makes a conclusion. Unlike overgeneralizing, jumping to conclusions refers to the tendency to be sure of something without any evidence at all.

Catastrophizing (Magnifying or Minimizing)

This distortion involves expecting that the worst will happen or has happened, based on an incident that is nowhere near as catastrophic as the person makes it out to be. Alternatively, one might minimize the importance of positive things, such as an accomplishment or positive personal characteristic.

Personalization

This happens when an individual believes that everything they do has an impact on external events or other people, no matter how irrational that may be. A person who is personalizing will feel that they have an exaggerated role in the bad things that happen around them (unwarranted self-blame).

Control Fallacies

This happens when one thinks that everything that happens is either a result of purely external forces or entirely due to your own actions. Sometimes what happens is due to forces we can't control.

Fallacy of Fairness

We are often concerned about fairness, but this concern can be taken to extremes. As we all know, LIFE IS NOT ALWAYS FAIR, unfortunately. If someone goes through life looking for fairness in all their experiences, they will end up resentful and unhappy. Sometimes things will go our way, and sometimes they will not, regardless of how fair it may seem.

Blaming

When things don't go our way, there are many ways we can explain or assign responsibility for the outcome. One method of assigning responsibility is blaming others for what goes wrong. We may blame others for making us feel or act a certain way, but, in truth, only we are responsible for the way we feel or act.

"Shoulds"

"Shoulds" refer to the implicit or explicit rules we have about how we and others should behave. When others break our rules, we get upset. However, when we break our own rules, we feel guilty.

Emotional Reasoning

This distortion involves thinking that if we feel a certain way, it must be true. For example, if we feel we are boring, we think that it is true (even if someone finds us very interesting).

Fallacy of Change

The fallacy of change lies in expecting other people to change to suit our needs. This ties into the feeling that our happiness depends on other people, and their unwillingness or inability to change, even if we demand it, keeps us from being happy. This is a toxic mindset because no one is responsible for our own happiness except ourselves.

Global Labeling/Mislabeling

This distortion is an extreme form of generalizing, in which we generalize one or two instances or qualities into a global judgment.

Always Being Right

While we all enjoy being right, this distortion makes us think we must be right, and that being wrong is unacceptable. We may even believe that being right is more important than the feelings of others, preventing us from being able to admit our mistakes or be objective.

The Heaven's Reward Fallacy

This distortion involves expecting that any sacrifice or self-denial will pay off. We may consider this "karma," and expect that karma will always reward us for our good deeds. This results in feelings of bitterness if we do not receive a reward.

My Common Negative Thoughts

Negative Thought Processes

Thought ----> Emotions ----> Physical Reactions/Behaviors

What are Negative Thought Processes?

There are 15 main negative thought processes or patterns that can trick your brain into thinking in a negative way. Negative thoughts cause negative emotions, and persistent inaccurate negative thoughts can lead to a pattern of feeling low.

Filtering

Black-and-White Thinking

Overgeneralization

Jumping to Conclusions

Catastrophizing (Magnifying or Minimizing)

Personalization

Control Fallacies

Fallacy of Fairness

Blaming

"Shoulds"

Emotional Reasoning

Fallacy of Change

Global Labeling/Mislabeling

Always Being Right

The Heaven's Reward Fallacy

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