Cognitive Distortions and Stress

Unravel the intricate relationship between cognitive distortions and stress. Explore how our mental misinterpretations can amplify stress levels, and delve into strategies for recognizing and rectifying these distortions to foster a healthier mental state.

Cognitive distortions

We all have cognitive distortions, which are simply tendencies or patterns of thinking or believing, and they are especially common in people with depression and other mood disorders.

• If you look for them and gently correct them, you’ll be well on your way to reducing your reactivity to the stress in your life.

Emotional Reasoning

This is a close relative to jumping to conclusions

Labeling and Mislabeling

Those who label or mislabel will habitually place labels that are inaccurate or negative on themselves and others.

• Labeling cages people into roles that don’t always apply and prevents us from seeing people as they really are. It’s a big no-no in relationship conflicts.

Personalization

Those who personalize their stressors tend to blame themselves or others for things over which they have no control, creating stress where it need not be

• Recognizing a cognitive distortion is the first step in moving past it
• Blame yourself for the actions of others or blame others for their own feelings

Jumping to Conclusions

Set your sights on a conclusion (often negative) and then look for evidence to back it up, ignoring evidence to the contrary.

• This can lead to mind reading and fortune-telling, as people often believe they know the true intentions of others without talking to them.

All-or-Nothing Thinking

This is when people think in extremes, with no gray areas or middle ground

• Words like “always” and “never” can magnify stressors in your life, making them seem bigger problems than they may, in reality, be

Magnification and Minimization

Similar to mental filtering and disqualifying the positive, this cognitive distortion involves placing a stronger emphasis on negative events and downplaying the positive ones.

Should Statements

Those who rely on’should statements’ tend to have rigid rules, set by themselves or others, that always need to be followed

Mental Filter

Those who tend toward mental filtering may gloss over positive events and hold a magnifying glass to the negative

• Ten things can go right, but a person operating under the influence of a mental filter may only notice the one thing that goes wrong
• Stress can be caused by this

Disqualifying the positive

Those who disqualify the positive tend to treat positive events like flukes, thereby clinging to a more negative worldview and set low expectations for the future

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