Cognitive Distortions

Ten Ways to Untwist Your Thinking (both these and the Cognitive Distortions are from Dr. Burns "The Feeling Good Handbook")

1. Identify the Distortion. Write down your negative thoughts so you can see which of the 10 Cognitive Distortions (above) you're involved in. This will make it easier to think about the problem in a more positive and realistic way.
2. Examine the Evidence. Instead of assuming that your negative thought is true, examine the actual evidence for it. For example, if you feel that you never do anything right, you could list several things you have done successfully.
3. The Double-Standard Method. Instead of putting yourself down in a harsh, condemning way, talk to yourself in the same compassionate way you would talk to a friend with a similar problem.
4. The Experimental Technique. Do an experiment to test the validity of your negative thought. For example, if during an episode of panic, you become terrified that you're about to die of a heart attack, you could jog up and down several flights of stairs. This will prove that your heart is healthy and strong.
5. Thinking in Shades of Gray. Although this method might sound drab, the effects can be illuminating. Instead of thinking about your problems in all-or-nothing extremes, evaluate things on a range from 0 to 100. When things don't work out as well as you hoped, think about the experience is a partial success rather than a complete failure. See what you can learn from the situation.
6. The Survey Method. Ask people questions to find out if your thoughts and attitudes are realistic. For example, if you believe the public speaking anxiety is abnormal and shameful, ask several friends if they ever felt nervous before they gave a talk.
7. Defined Terms. When you label yourself inferior or a fool or a loser, ask "what is the definition of a fool?" You will feel better when you see that there's no such thing as a fool or a loser.
8. The Semantic Method. Simply substitute language that is less colorful and emotionally loaded. This method is helpful for "should" statements. Instead of telling yourself "I shouldn't have made that mistake," you can say "it would be better if I hadn't made that mistake."
9. Re-attribution. Instead of automatically assuming that you are bad and blaming yourself entirely for problem, think about the many factors that may have contributed to it. Focus on solving the problem instead of using up all your energy blaming yourself and feeling guilty.
10. Cost-Benefit Analysis. List the advantages and disadvantages of a feeling (like getting angry when your plane is late), a negative thought (like "no matter how hard I try I always screw up"), or a behavior pattern (like overeating and lying around in bed when you're depressed). You can also use the cost-benefits analysis to modify a self-defeating belief such as "I must always try to be perfect."

I assume the worst about any little thing my husband does and then ruminate about it until I'm in a rage. Started Lamictal about 10 weeks ago and the episodes are diminishing quite bit, at least I don't get physical anymore. Has anyone had luck with Lamictal and angery outbursts?

What my therapist had me do was write down specific thoughts that qualify as one of these congitive distortions, label them according to which one fits the thought, and then write down an alternative to that thought which is more realistic. I went over the list with her every week for a few months until I was sorting it out effectively on my own - at first I needed help understanding that the thoughts were truly unrealistic, I was labelling them but I still believed them. Gradually the distortions grew less and less extreme and I got better at catching them in the moment and correcting my thinking in day to day life. So yes, if you work on self-awareness using this list, you really can reduce this kind of thinking in your life.

How many people do you know that dont say "too hot " too cold" "too much rain"... when the weather is the subject.

To speak negatively about something you have no way to change.

Well meet one.
I woke this morning and lo and behold there was an atmosphere I got out of bed. When I wake and there is no atmosphere I am not about to get out of bed I will just lay there and complain about the poor quality of the atmosphere and lack there of.

You have a wonderful day today and enjoy the prevailing atmospheric conditions. They are yours weather you like it or not. (yes I know)

keeping track of cognitive distortion and changing the way we think can make a big difference in how we feel

realitycheque wrote:Ten Ways to Untwist Your Thinking (both these and the Cognitive Distortions are from Dr. Burns "The Feeling Good Handbook")

This is not directly solely at realitycheque, but to the thread itself.

Okay, IRL bringing things like this up in therapy causes me some serious aggression from professionals, so... i'll at least try once here.

Just reading this thread has caused me level one anxiety (skin crawling and mild feeling like i'm about to explode). Two, this post... this post mirrors what I come across in self help stuff and what online resources say to do about anxiety, etc. But, professionals almost never get into any of this, or when they do... it is a violating experience, with humiliation, screaming, and... lots of amnesia.

One, I have no memory of thoughts. This one alone causes me huge problems with CBT people and has caused the most screaming, as they insist i'm lying. Two, writing down lists of things knowing i'm about to be judged on it and told how homo i am and how retarded i am and mocked and screamed at for being wrong... well, anxiety attack level 3 or worse. I have gone functionally blind trying to do these things (can see the letters, but can't make words out of them, feel like i'm dying, difficulty breathing, chest pains, dizziness, tingling, burning across parts of my body).

Three, coming up with the "rational" truth-y thingies for "what i should be thinking/doing" is like... laughable. I mean i know i should die. I'm to homo retarded and worthless and should die, but i'm just too big of a coward to do it, so there is no opposite of my feelings or thoughts or actions except I should die.

Four... four... i dont know. I can't tell professionals about these things I feel. I'm not going back to prison and being beaten again. I'm not being screamed at until I agree i'm homo and should die and i'm worthless and they murder me. So... i don't have the money for real treatment and pills cause me massive side effects with no benefits to date. I mean I already have burning genitals day and night after the last one and other physical problems too, so... after numbness, memory losss, pain, loss of function of body parts, hearing things *thankfully this soooo freaked me out i dropped the dosage and the problem went away immediately but the psychiatrist was pissed i did it without calling them first*, paranoia *that has not gone away with stopping the pills*...

My self confidence and self esteem was destroyed by my parents and beatings from... professionals as a child and then young adult. I only have two memories of the actual events, but because of my having clear fear of these people going into the events of the flashback, the psychologist i was in the office of when i had the flasbhack of being beaten... he was sure it was a repeat pattern i just don't remember the other times of.

My self confidence and self esteem are down in the range of I spend a considerable amount of time knowing i should die and just lying here crying in pain. they are a lot of fun to go through, lol. But, they pass, and i sort of use that knowledge now to endure. I've told online friends about it, so they help remind me it will pass and just to endure. Professionals just scream and humiliate me when I bring it up with them. Suicide hotlines have told me it is all my fault, i need to get over it, there is nothing wrong. I tried two in the last two, three weeks, so this is recent, not years old.

Breathing control does me no good in these states as it causes me to feel like i'm suffocating and to panic. Muscle relaxation is not possible, because I can't feel my muscles. Generally i can't feel much of anything but skin crawling, skin burning/hot, and like i'm about to die. In the last week I have become aware of a condition called "dissociation" which would explain huge tracts of what happens when I become stressed. I've taken three xanax in thirty minutes, and even those do nothing but put me to sleep (though just before I black out, i do have blessed release from the pain, which would be great, but I HATE blacking out), unless it is a mild anxiety attack, which xanax works great for if I have around an hour for it to work >_>

So... anyone have any thoughts on any of this? Know this, state mental health care has already told me there is nothing wrong and to stop bugging them, and i'm just about out of money as far as doing anything else IRL. So, RL options are very very limited. Thus why i'm here >_>

[quote="Butterfly Faerie"][color=green]1. All Or Nothing Thinking:You see things in black and white categories. If your performance falls short of perfect, you see yourself as a total failure.

2. Overgeneralization: You see a single negative event as a never-ending pattern.
...

Scared me reading all these. I do each of these things regularly. *sigh*

I know this is an old post, but its an amazing and important post.

I just wish that everyone knew about these and how they can lead to mental stress.