Cognitive distortions are biased ways of thinking in which our minds influence us into thinking and accepting something that is not true(Kellogg, 2003). Such kind of thoughts are typically used to emphasize and support negative emotions and negative thinking.Distortions make us tell ourselves things that declare negative emotions and negative states of thoughts.They, in reality, only oblige to keep us having bad feelings about ourselves. Our ways of thinking are therefore biased and we end up being biased in the way we perceive ourselves.Distorted thinking can lead to negative and problematic behavior and emotional states like low self-esteem, anxiety, depression and even relationship conflicts.
There are different ways in which individuals distort their thinking.We will takea case scenario of Peter who is fond of jumping into conclusions. Well, with Peter, we always end up knowing what he is feeling about us. We also always know why he is acting like he does and also what he feels.
|Peter mostly concludes that people are reacting negatively towards him but, he never actually tries or bothers to ascertain if that is the real case. For example, when peter’s friends laugh from a distance, he always conclude that they are probably laughing at him because he is ‘fat’ which the case is not usually. In fact, Peter’s friends like him because they like the way he carries himself. In the real occurrence, Peter’s friends are most of the times laughing about their silly jokes. However, Peter is over and over again hating himself because of his distorted thinking.
Peter now anticipates that things will always turn out badly. He always feels that the bad ending is already established to be a fact. However, Peter does not know that his prediction is biased. At this point, he even thinks that he is a failure and will go pear-shaped in his entire life.
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