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Unhelpful thinking styles

6 minute read

Distressing thoughts tend to follow a small number of patterns. Beck described several of them in his early work on depression, and David Burns later put them into plain language in Feeling Good. Therapists call them cognitive distortions, thinking errors, or thinking traps. This site uses "unhelpful thinking styles," which describes what they do without suggesting anything is wrong with the person having them. Everyone thinks this way sometimes, and more so when tired, stressed, or low.

Twelve common styles

All-or-nothing thinking. Only two options, with nothing in between. "If this presentation isn't perfect, I've blown it."

Overgeneralizing. One event becomes a rule, often with "always" or "never." "I didn't get the job. Nothing ever works out for me."

Mental filter. One bad detail colors everything else. "The review was good apart from one comment, so it was a bad review."

Discounting the positive. Good things get explained away so they don't count. "They only said it went well because they had to."

Mind reading. Assuming you know what someone else is thinking, usually something bad, without checking. "He hasn't texted back, so he's annoyed with me."

Fortune telling. Treating a bad outcome as already decided. "I'll freeze in the interview."

Catastrophizing. Jumping to the worst case and treating it as likely or unbearable. "If I lose this client, I'll lose the business."

Magnifying and shrinking. Blowing up your mistakes or other people's strengths while shrinking your own. "My typo was humiliating. Her promotion shows how far behind I am."

Emotional reasoning. Taking a feeling as proof. "I feel guilty, so I must have done something wrong."

Should and must statements. Rigid rules for yourself or others, followed by guilt or anger when they're broken. "I should be able to handle this without help."

Labeling. Summing up a whole person, often yourself, with one word after one event. "I forgot her birthday. I'm a terrible friend."

Personalizing and blaming. Taking all the blame for something with many causes, or putting all of it on someone else. "My son is struggling in school because I'm a bad parent."

How to use the labels

Naming a style can help you step back and see a thought as a habit of mind rather than a report on reality. That's why the worksheet offers them on the hot thought step.

A label isn't a verdict, though. "That's mind reading" doesn't prove the other person wasn't annoyed. People sometimes use labels to wave a thought away without looking at it, which tends not to help and can feel dismissive of something that hurts. Treat a label as a hint about where to look, then go on to the evidence.

The categories also overlap. "I'll fail and everyone will think I'm an idiot" is fortune telling, mind reading, and a bit of catastrophizing at once. Don't spend long choosing.

What the research says

Questionnaires that measure these styles, such as the Cognitive Distortions Scale, find that scores track symptoms of depression and anxiety and differ between clinical and non-clinical groups. A small recent trial found that two sessions of group psychoeducation reduced distortion scores in people with depression, though their depression improved about as much as in the comparison group. What hasn't been tested well is whether labeling a distortion helps on its own, apart from the rest of the work of examining a thought. So the app keeps labels optional.

Over time, the Patterns screen shows which styles you tag most. A style that keeps showing up is worth knowing by name, and worth mentioning to a therapist.

References

Helpful links

Educational content, not medical advice or a substitute for professional care. Ready to try one? Fill in a thought record online or print one.