In every new journal, I take time to write down COGNITIVE DISTORTIONS. It's a good reminder and prepares me to identify them in my own thinking. Here they are! Read on and I explain how I was introduced to these in my anxiety and depression journey!

1. All or nothing: look at things in absolute
2. Overgeneralization: negative event as never ending pattern of defeat
3. Mental filter: dwell on negatives, ignore positives
4. Discounting positives: insist that your accomplishments or positives don’t count
5. Mind reading: assume people are reacting negatively with no evidence
6. Fortune telling: predict things will turn out bad
7. Magnification/minimalzation: blow things out/ shrink importance of proportion
8. Emotional reasoning: saying “ I feel like an idiot” I must be one. "I don’t feel good about myself" so I’m not good.
9. Should statements: you criticize yourself with other people using “should”s “shouldn’t”s “must”s or “ought"s
10. Labeling: identify with short comings instead of saying “ I made a mistake” you tell yourself “I’m a jerk or a fool”
11. Personalization/blame: blame yourself for something you weren’t entirely responsible for or Blame others without seeing your own part.

When I first noticed my struggle with depression in 2011, I went to a psychiatrist. She tactfully explained that when others grow up they learn to go through each of the tires in an obstacle course/race... I on the other hand missed a couple of tires and I need to go back and learn them. Then she lead me to the book... The Feeling Good Handbook by David Burns. She also guided me to a therapist to help me in my learning.

The idea of the book is that our brains distort reality and can cause anxiety and depression. Addressing the distortion greatly improves our mental health. I've had this book by my side for years now. As you can tell the cover is very aged compared to the most recent edition. That beautiful 90s sweater says it all!

It has blessed me and grounded me when my mind escalates a situation. I am VERY VERY guilty of MIND READING and PERSONALIZATION. I can use this chart to identify this thought process and then turn to the book to learn more!

PS I think all of us skip tires. 😉 Our upbringing taught us how to get through the obstacle course. We take shortcuts for survival and the way our guardians learned how to do the tires carries on to us. We can rewire and redo those tires over and over and get better results by learning healthy thought processes! EVERYONE can do and be better at the “tires”!

LEARN MORE HERE

https://theremoteyogi.blog/2020/05/01/thinking-habits-that-are-anxiety/

https://psychcentral.com/lib/15-common-cognitive-distortions/