Unhelpful Thinking Habbits

 When a person experiences an unhelpful emotion (e.g., depression or anxiety), it is usually preceded by a number of unhelpful self-statements and thoughts. Often there is a pattern to such thoughts and we call these, "unhelpful thinking styles".

•      All or Nothing: Extreme positive or Negative

Sometimes called ‘black and white thinking

e.g. 'If I’m not perfect I have failed either I do it right or not at all

•      Maximizing and Minimizing: Maximize the negative and minimize the positive. Discounting the good things that have happened or that you have done for some reason or another

e.g. I have nothing good in my life….

Mental Filter: Only paying attention to certain types of evidence of interest

e.g. Noticing our failures but not seeing our successes

•      Jumping to Conclusions: There are two key types of jumping to conclusions:

 Mind reading (imagining we know what others are thinking): “She wants the boss to hate me”

 Fortune telling (predicting the future): ‘I’ll always be alone.’ ‘Nothing ever works out for me’.

•      Personalization: Blaming yourself or taking responsibility for something that wasn’t completely your fault Conversely, blaming other people for something that was your fault

e.g. This is my fault….

•      Should and Must: Using critical words like ‘should’, ‘must’, or ‘ought’ can make us feel guilty, or like we have already failed If we apply ‘should’ to other people the result is often frustration

e.g. ‘I want therefore I must have’.
‘I must be thoroughly competent at all times, or else I am incompetent’
‘You must behave as I think you ought to, and you must treat me with respect and thoughtfulness, or you are a bad rotten person’

•      Labeling: Assigning labels to ourselves or other people

e.g. I’m a loser. I’m completely useless. They’re such an idiot

•      Emotional Reasoning: Assuming that because we feel a certain way what we think must be true

e.g. I feel embarrassed so I must be an idiot. . ‘I feel bad, therefore it is bad’. ‘I feel angry therefore there is a reason to be angry’.

•      Over-Generalizing: Seeing a pattern based upon a single event, or being overly broad in the conclusions we draw

e.g. “everything is always rubbish”, “nothing good ever happens