Thread by @LaurenSHallion

Cognitive distortions are common thinking errors that can contribute to anxiety and depression.

A 🧵of some of the most common cognitive distortions (with AI-generated art created using wombo):

#SciComm #CBTWorks

all-or-nothing thinking:

thinking in extremes; something is either perfect or it’s terrible

discounting the positives:

ignoring positive comments, feedback, or information, and instead only focusing on the negatives

catastrophizing:

imagining and expecting a worst-case scenario, instead of taking a more balanced perspective

mind-reading:

assuming we know what someone else is thinking (usually something negative) when they haven’t told us directly

personalization:

assuming that we are the cause of negative events; taking things personally; blaming ourselves for things that aren’t actually our fault

magnification:

blowing things out of proportion; reacting to things more strongly or treating things as more important than is warranted

its inverse is minimization:

playing things down; pretending something doesn’t matter when it does

jumping to conclusions:

assuming we know how things will turn out; assuming that because one (usually negative) thing happened, it also means other (usually negative) things will happen