The idea comes from cognitive behavioural therapy. Four of these five are on David Burns’s list of ten in Feeling Good, and catastrophising is close to his magnification. The lines on each one are in our own words.
Longer lists run past ten. We picked the five we catch ourselves in most.
The five
All-or-nothing thinking
If I do not ace this presentation, I am a complete failure. Anything short of perfect counts as failure in this one. Ask what the partial truth is.
Catastrophising
You treat the worst outcome as the likeliest one. Your boss hasn’t replied to a message, so you must be getting fired. Write down what’s most likely to happen next to the worst case, and read the two together.
Mind reading
Everyone at the party thought I was boring. You can’t know what they thought. What would you ask them if you could?
Personalisation
A friend cancels your plans and you decide they must be angry with you. Personalisation puts you at the centre of something that was mostly down to other things, like their week or their boss. List two other reasons they might have cancelled.
Shoulds
You push yourself with should, must and ought. I should be further along in my career by now. Swap the should for "I would like to" and read the sentence again.
Naming it is most of the fix
A distorted thought passes itself off as a plain description of what’s happening. Once you can say "that’s catastrophising", you can ask the question that goes with it.
The ways out are questions because you’ll believe an answer you came up with yourself.
Practise on somebody else’s thoughts first
A distortion is easier to spot in a sentence that isn’t yours, so start with other people’s thoughts before you try your own.
Questions people ask
What are the most common cognitive distortions?
We couldn’t find a study that ranks them. David Burns lists ten in Feeling Good.
Is there a cognitive distortions worksheet?
Our workspace has one. You match five unhelpful thoughts to the five patterns, then read your matches back with each pattern named. It saves in your browser.
Is this the same as therapy?
It’s one tool from cognitive behavioural therapy. If you’re struggling with your mental health, talk to your GP or a therapist.