Imagine your mind has a sneaky, uninvited guest: cognitive distortions. These negative biases are like crafty tricksters that distort your perception of reality, leading to irrational fears, overreactions, and skewed thinking patterns. Sounds daunting, right? But don't worry; we're here to help you beat these mental invaders at their own game. In this riveting episode, we unpack the concept of cognitive distortions in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), exploring common tricksters such as fortune telling, magnification, minimization, and catastrophizing. We even share some personal encounters with these distortions, to show you that everyone - yes, even us - can fall prey to these thought-twisting bandits.
But what happens when these distortions start to misread your thoughts? We explore this in the second chapter, diving into various distortions like jumping to conclusions, emotional reasoning, and disqualifying the positive. We even toss in a bit of pop culture, because who said learning can't be fun? By the end of this episode, we promise you that not only will you be able to spot these distortions from a mile away, but you'll also have the tools to dismantle them. So join us for this enlightening journey, participate in our interactive quiz, and let's take the first step towards a healthier, happier mind.
If you need to study for your national licensing exam, try the free samplers at: LicensureExams
This podcast is not associated with the NBCC, AMFTRB, ASW, ANCC, NASP, NAADAC, CCMC, NCPG, CRCC, or any state or governmental agency responsible for licensure.
Imagine your mind has a sneaky, uninvited guest: cognitive distortions. These negative biases are like crafty tricksters that distort your perception of reality, leading to irrational fears, overreactions, and skewed thinking patterns. Sounds daunting, right? But don't worry; we're here to help you beat these mental invaders at their own game. In this riveting episode, we unpack the concept of cognitive distortions in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), exploring common tricksters such as fortune telling, magnification, minimization, and catastrophizing. We even share some personal encounters with these distortions, to show you that everyone - yes, even us - can fall prey to these thought-twisting bandits.
But what happens when these distortions start to misread your thoughts? We explore this in the second chapter, diving into various distortions like jumping to conclusions, emotional reasoning, and disqualifying the positive. We even toss in a bit of pop culture, because who said learning can't be fun? By the end of this episode, we promise you that not only will you be able to spot these distortions from a mile away, but you'll also have the tools to dismantle them. So join us for this enlightening journey, participate in our interactive quiz, and let's take the first step towards a healthier, happier mind.
If you need to study for your national licensing exam, try the free samplers at: LicensureExams
This podcast is not associated with the NBCC, AMFTRB, ASW, ANCC, NASP, NAADAC, CCMC, NCPG, CRCC, or any state or governmental agency responsible for licensure.
Stacy:
Welcome to another episode of our licensure exams podcast. I'm Stacey.
Linton:
And I'm Linton, and in this episode of our theory to therapy series, we'll be taking a look at one of the key concepts of cognitive behavioral therapy cognitive distortions.
Stacy:
And I'm sure that, as a therapist, you have heard about cognitive behavioral therapy or CBT, which is based on the idea that psychological problems are caused by unhelpful ways of thinking and unhelpful patterns of behavior. As we go through life, we're constantly interpreting what's happening in the world and trying to make sense of everything. Sometimes our interpretations have a negative bias, which leads to a logical error, also called a cognitive distortion.
Linton:
Exactly. A key component of CBT is identifying distorted negative thoughts and consciously replacing them with more balanced, realistic thinking patterns. Let's go through some of the common cognitive distortion therapists. Look for what's the first one on the list Stacey.
Stacy:
All right. The first one is fortune telling, and here is an example. Sarah just got invited to an interview for a job that she really wants. The night before the interview she starts thinking things like I'm definitely not going to get this job. They're going to ask me questions I can't answer and I'll completely bomb the interview. They'll see how nervous I am and realize I'm not qualified enough. I might as well cancel the interview now, because there's no way they're going to hire me anyway.
Linton:
Well, it sounds like Sarah has a crystal ball in front of her and she's making really predictions about how the interview will go, even though it hasn't happened yet. She has no evidence that she'll actually fail the interview or that the interviewer will dislike her. Fortune telling is when you're totally convinced that something will turn out badly and there's nothing you can do to change it. Fortune telling is also called predicting the future.
Stacy:
Exactly, and we all predict the future to some extent, like when we're assessing risk. If you accidentally leave your public sushi sitting in your hot card all day, linton, odds are that you're going to toss it out because logic and or survival instincts tell you that you're likely going to get sick if you eat it.
Linton:
You think so?
Stacy:
I do, I would.
Linton:
No way, Stacey. There's no way that I'm going to throw at it. Perfectly good sushi just because it might have been warm for a little bit in the car. If I had to make a prediction, I'd say everything's just going to be fine, though I do remember this one time that I got a little queasy after that, yeah, like that's not going to happen again.
Stacy:
Oh, predicting the future becomes a cognitive distortion when you assume that there will be a negative or positive outcome without really weighing the odds and considering all the facts.
Linton:
What's next?
Stacy:
All right. Magnification is another cognitive distortion where you see something as more significant than it really is. For example, you might over magnify another person's attributes by putting them up on a pedestal. Take some small situation and make it into a much bigger deal than it actually is, or think about a task as being much more difficult and complex than it really is.
Linton:
Here is what magnification sounds like. My brother is an absolute genius. He's so smart and successful I'm sure he's the world's next Elon Musk. I feel like I'm living in his shadow, or I misspelled a few words and an email to my boss and I'm positive she thinks that I'm a total idiot.
Stacy:
Boy, if that kind of thinking were really true, we'd all be in serious trouble. Thank goodness for the good, old-fashioned spell check.
Linton:
Yeah.
Stacy:
Then we have minimization. This is another cognitive distortion and it's where you downplay positive events or your own positive attributes. A client is minimizing if they say something like you know, receiving the ACA counselor of the year award wasn't that significant. It doesn't legitimize me or my work in any way. I still have an enormous amount of progress to make before I could even be considered credible in the field of counseling. Or please. Any success of mine is only due to you and as only due to your incredible mentorship. I barely put forth any effort and I'm just a minimally competent intern here. I simply did what I had to to avoid being reprimanded.
Linton:
Did you say minimally competent intern?
Stacy:
You heard that correctly.
Linton:
Lyndon. And then there's catastrophizing. That's when you think about the worst case scenario. In layman's term you'd call it just an overreaction and the client goes from zero to 60 in a matter of seconds. Here's an example. She hasn't texted me back. What if she told all of her friends that our date was horrible and she puts it out on Instagram? I'll never get a date again and end up being alone forever.
Stacy:
Good one, or I consider myself a bit of a master catastrophizer recently, and I lost my iPhone, Lyndon, it was just awful. The last thing I remember is that when I was texting my mom without care and then a few hours later poof, my phone's gone. I must have dropped it somewhere outside or I left it at the restaurant we ate it for dinner. My precious iPhone had vanished without a trace and I'm looking everywhere for it. I'm looking under the couch cushions, the sock drawer in the fridge.
Stacy:
You know, the usual places. You accidentally misplace a phone, but, alas, no sign of my lifeline anywhere. Oh my gosh. Yeah, then I'm thinking all right, well, someone's taking it and they're stealing my identity. Oh my God, what if some shady person found my iPhone and is using it for drug deals? Lyndon.
Linton:
And what if?
Stacy:
I start texting everyone on my contact list, acting like me and trying to sell them drugs. I can practically hear the delinquents cackling as they undoubtedly act into my online shopping accounts. Goodbye savings account. And what's this? They've changed my address and, to make matters worse, they signed me up for weekly exotic bird magazine deliveries Horror. But the worst part, the absolute worst part, went in.
Linton:
What.
Stacy:
Picturing some hoodlum texting my father-in-law asking the scores of ecstasy, while they're pretending to be me.
Linton:
God, I haven't forbid that should happen, Stacy. So you went from misplacing your phone to identity theft and drug dealing. That's quite the leap. What actually did happen to your iPhone?
Stacy:
Okay, well, after the panic settled down, I had CJ call my phone and I heard this faint buzzing, because you know I had it on silent. It's coming from under the Christmas tree and I've been using it as a flashlight to water the tree and got you know forgot about it. I got involved in other stuff.
Linton:
Well, anyway, you still have quite the act of imagination. I can't believe how much anxiety that you created in just a short period of time.
Stacy:
Yeah, no kidding.
Linton:
That reminds me of another prevalent cognitive distortion magical thinking.
Stacy:
Yes, this is one of my favorites. Magical thinking is when you believe that your thoughts or actions will directly influence an outcome when in reality that's not actually possible.
Linton:
Magical thinking is common with children and is a normal part of child development. But as we grow and develop logic skills and understand the concept of cause and effect, magical thinking starts to fade. In adults, magical thinking can be perfectly harmless. Take superstitions like if you walk under a ladder you're going to have bad luck. That's not a good idea, but anyways right. So there's no harm in walking around a ladder instead of under it to avoid bad luck. However, Some types of magical thinking can cause real, significant problems. Magical thinking is common with anxiety disorders, obsessive compulsive disorder and schizophrenia.
Stacy:
In therapy, your client is demonstrating magical thinking. If they say something to you like after I lose 20 pounds, I'll be beautiful, guys are going to flock to me. I'll even get that promotion at work.
Linton:
Or how about if I'm too confident and optimistic about passing my licensing exam? I'll jinx it and I'll end up failing by one point.
Stacy:
Okay, I will admit that I've had that exact thought. It's like there's some sort of cosmic law that success deserves punishment. It's almost like the universe demands modesty at all times and if you ever let on that you're feeling confident about your skills, then you're going to get penalized for it. So if I proactively say I'm sure I'm going to mess this up, then the universe might take pity on me and help me out.
Linton:
When, of course, your exam outcomes really depends on your practical preparation, not on some superstitious mind games you're playing with yourself. Another example is when our foreign exchange student was shocked and tried to hush us up whenever we tried to really say anything positive about her creativity and how smart she was. She was culturally raised to believe that negative things would follow her the rest of her life if she accepted any praise from us.
Stacy:
Yeah, exactly, and the next cognitive distortion we'll look at is arbitrary interpretation, which is really just a glorified way of saying jumping to conclusions, where you make assumptions without data or facts to support your interpretation.
Linton:
Basie, have you ever heard of Jan Bruinvahn's classic gerbil story?
Stacy:
Oh, gerbil story. Say what now? The?
Linton:
gerbil story.
Stacy:
All right, tell me.
Linton:
Okay, A woman's driving to her son's school for a show and tell and she's got his pet gerbil in a box in the passenger seat. The gerbil escapes and crawls up her pant leg while she's driving. Oh dear, yeah, really. To avoid an accident, the woman pulls over, flings open the car door and starts jumping up and down to get the gerbil out of her pants.
Stacy:
Wow, that must have been quite a sight.
Linton:
Really Well. Someone driving by saw her and thinks that she's having a seizure, so he pulls over, jumps out of the car, wraps his arms around her the keeper from convulsing.
Stacy:
Oh boy.
Linton:
Then Another driver comes by and he sees this guy holding the woman and assumes that she's being attacked. So he pulls over, punches the first well-intended guy in the face to help save the woman from the attacker.
Stacy:
Man. Well, that is a serious case of jumping to conclusions. I can see that both drivers stopped to help the woman because they made some assumptions about what they thought was happening. Unfortunately, they assumed incorrectly, both of them, and it would have been much more helpful if they just asked some clarifying questions to begin with.
Linton:
Right next is mind reading. This is when you assume that you know exactly what someone is thinking. Here are some examples. The client says my therapist was so positive and interested in everything I had to say. Today I'm pretty sure he's interested in me and not only in a professional way. Mm-hmm or a client says my therapist confronted me on everything I said today and I'm sure that he must hate me.
Stacy:
Yep, as you can see, mind reading can go both ways. You know, I've been watching some old reruns of Frazier for back in a day.
Linton:
I love that. Yes, didn't you like that?
Stacy:
It's a great show as part of our routine. You know every when it was on I don't know Saturday or Sunday nights or something.
Linton:
Uh-huh.
Stacy:
It was great followed by, or Seinfeld came first than we watched Frazier Mm-hmm. So for a psychiatrist, frazier, you know he's pretty unaware of his cognitive distortions. You can point one out in like almost every episode. He has a bit of an ego and he always assumes that women are just fascinated by him. If a woman is looking intently in his direction in a coffee shop, frazier's mind reading kicks in with. You know, I'm sure she recognizes me from my radio show and it's just waiting for the right moment to ask me out.
Linton:
So you think Frazier was sponge worthy On the?
Stacy:
other hand, if you don't have narcissistic tendencies but your mind has a strong negativity bias, mind reading often defaults to the. They must hate me for something I said on my radio show. Interpretation when there's ambiguity.
Linton:
Well, thanks goodness, we don't feel discouraged when there's less than a thousand downloads of our last. Here's another cognitive distortion Emotional reasoning. This is when our emotions take over and dictate how we perceive a situation. Basically, our mood at any given moment determines our reality. We can think of this cognitive distortion as I feel this way, so it's got to be true.
Stacy:
Mm-hmm. For example, I feel anxious, so it definitely means that something bad is gonna happen. Or I feel discouraged because I didn't pass my exam. That must mean that I'm not a good therapist and I should really consider another profession.
Linton:
Next, there's disqualifying the positive.
Stacy:
Do these cognitive distortions ever end, linton? Well seems like a long list here.
Linton:
Yeah, it is, but we could stop right now if you want to, but that would mean that the ones we didn't mention will be the ones that will end up on the license.
Stacy:
What kind of cognitive distortion is it play with that kind of thinking?
Linton:
Well, back to disqualifying the positive.
Stacy:
Okay.
Linton:
All right. This is when you discount the positive things that have happened or the positive things people say. The positive things don't count or are not important. You might also discount your personal success by claiming that it was just luck and you might as well have been gambling. Your client may disqualify the positive. If they say something like this she was just being nice when she complimented me on my communication skills. I make plenty of mistakes, or it doesn't mean I know anything just because I passed my licensure exam with a high score. That was just luck and nothing I did had anything to do with me passing.
Stacy:
So I've got a question how is disqualifying the positive different from minimization? They sound kind of close.
Linton:
Yeah, well, it's good to know. The two are very similar. But there's a subtle difference With minimalization you acknowledge something positive but downplay its importance. Got that, okay? I?
Stacy:
think I see. So you admit it happened, but you trivialize it, whereas with disqualifying the positive, you completely, completely invalidate or write off the positive thing entirely.
Linton:
So in this example with minimalization, you'll say yeah, I did, okay, but it was an easy test.
Stacy:
Okay, but with disqualifying the positive, you might say something like that score was just random luck, it doesn't mean I actually know the material. So the difference is really complete invalidation rather than just downplay Okay. What about all or nothing thinking Linton.
Linton:
And then there's all or nothing thinking. Where you're thinking, it's very black or very white. A big clue that it's an or nothing thinking is when you hear the words always or never. This is one of the most frequent cognitive distortions you run into with clients, and it's really common with perfectionists or programmers.
Stacy:
Oh yes, the ones who zeros and ones zeros and ones.
Linton:
You know anyone like that.
Stacy:
Oh, yes, I can name a few, all right. Well, if you've ever seen Star Wars and I'm pretty sure you have if you've not been living under a rock during this century, you might remember the scene where Anakin says to Obi-Wan if you're not with me, then you're my enemy. And this language supports Obi-Wan's fear that Anakin has become an evil Sith Lord. And Obi-Wan replies only as Sith deals in absolutes. Hmm, and you may come across some different terminology to describe all or nothing thinking on your exam, including absolutistic thinking, dichotomous thinking, polarized thinking and black and white thinking.
Linton:
And here's an example of a client where the all or nothing thinking is at play. Ready?
Stacy:
Mm-hmm. Go ahead.
Linton:
Maya, a 16-year-old, comes to discuss issues she's having with her friend, jenny. Maya feels deeply hurt because Jenny canceled their plans yesterday, texting that something else came up. She says Jenny is the worst friend ever for leaving me. She only cares about her new popular friend Stacy now and nothing about me anymore. I thought we were best friends but she ditched me so I guess the whole friendship thing was worthless to her anyway. In reality, jenny's uncle had surprised the family by purchasing a private skybox to watch the NFL Super Bowl for her mother's birthday. The playoff game just happened to be the same day that she was supposed to meet with Maya. Jenny felt awful canceling their plans but didn't know how to explain without hurting Mia, so she just told her something came up. That demonstrates black and white thinking, because Mia interprets one canceled plan as meaning Jenny feels no care or loyalty in their friendship whatsoever.
Stacy:
Yeah, it's either this or it's that. One term that's sometimes confused with all or nothing thinking is zero-sum thinking. Both of these distortions involve extreme views, but zero-sum thinking is a cognitive bias that's a little bit more specific. With zero-sum thinking, the idea is that for someone to get what they want, the result is that someone else has to lose out. There's no such thing as compromise, because everything is viewed through the lens of win versus lose. I get something you don't, and vice versa, you get something I don't, and you can really fill in the blank here as to what that something is. It might be love, attention, money, time, success. This cognitive bias pops up a lot in couples therapy, with couples engaged in a zero-sum game where they're constantly keeping score Like it's his turn to cook. I cooked last night.
Linton:
I took out the garbage.
Stacy:
Exactly exactly, you got it. Yeah, it's an endless list.
Linton:
Right. Zero-sum thinking also tends to be predominant during crisis situations. Take the COVID-19 pandemic and the toilet paper shortage, for example. I need to buy up all the toilet paper right now because if I don't, the guy down the street will grab it and he's the last one in the world that would ever think of sharing. The cognitive bias here is that there is a winner who gets all the resources in this example, the toilet paper and a loser who ends up with nothing.
Stacy:
Yep, hey, linton, you know, speaking of toilet paper, didn't you mention that you had a stash, quite a large stash, if I recall, of toilet paper from Publix in the last podcast on hoarding disorder?
Linton:
Yeah, we actually still have that, you know.
Stacy:
I told you, I think it was a pretty large stash, wasn't it?
Linton:
Well, let me explain that. When Beck and I were at the medical school a few years back in the West Indies, I can assume you from firsthand experience it's not a fun month when the entire island runs out of toilet paper, unless you have a stash until the next shipment arrives. Rather than your term of hoarding, I prefer to think it is wisely collected from Publix when the pandemic hit. Thank you so very much.
Stacy:
I see you reframed. Very nice, Linton. Well, I think we'll just have to revisit that another time.
Linton:
Okay. Well, here's a few more examples that demonstrate the use of zero sum thinking. The way I figure it, you're either a winner or a loser in all relationships, and I'm in the loser camp. He got the girl and I didn't. Or it was my wife's turn to drive the kids to school. I did it yesterday. She has a meaning and couldn't take them, so I had to give up my time and take them instead. Okay, and now? How about a bogo on cognitive distortions, before we wrap up the episode?
Stacy:
Okay, I got another one up my sleeve. How about selective abstraction?
Linton:
Good.
Stacy:
This is also called mental filtering, so you form a negative conclusion without considering context. You hone in on one negative detail instead of seeing the larger picture that includes a lot of positives. It reminds me of Thanksgiving dinner that takes you hours and hours to prepare and you've got a guest who doesn't bring anything, which is okay, but they can only talk about the tiny little, itty-bitty, microscopic stain on the tablecloth.
Linton:
Well, you think that's something.
Stacy:
Oh boy, what else have you got?
Linton:
What happens when someone gets upset and is only focused on that one word that is misspelled in the case study and wants a full refund, you know what Bruce would tell him.
Stacy:
What would Bruce tell him?
Linton:
Get over it. They examine it by spelling.
Stacy:
Very true.
Linton:
Didn't you find tons of misspellings in the DSM-5 TR Stacey?
Stacy:
Oh geez, no kidding. You know when I was really bored one day I went through the DSM-5 TR and I highlighted a bunch of the misspellings.
Linton:
Oh my gosh. By the way, I've always wondered what the TR stands for.
Stacy:
Yeah, so the TR actually stands for text revision and it indicates that the DSM-5 TR is a revised version of the DSM-5 containing the latest updates, determinology criteria, diagnosis, that kind of thing.
Linton:
But I guess not for spelling. Did you return it for a refund?
Stacy:
No, I did not. We're after improvement here, not perfection, Linton.
Linton:
Well, here are a few other examples of selective abstraction. My presentation was brilliant, but the entire meeting was a disaster, as I'm sure I might even lose my job. Why, Well, I called my boss by the wrong name at the end of the presentation? I can't believe I did that or I'm a terrible therapist. I just got back from an evaluation from my supervisor and he shared this one critique from a former client who said he didn't like how I reminded him as his father.
Stacy:
Good examples.
Linton:
Okay, stacey. How about a summary before we go?
Stacy:
All right, sure, cognitive distortions are inaccurate or negative ways of thinking that can contribute to psychological problems. And the common cognitive distortions that we talked about today are fortune-telling, which involves predicting negative outcomes with no evidence. Magnification, exaggerating the importance of events. Minimization, downplaying positive events or attributes. Catastrophizing, envisioning the worst-case scenario, master catastrophizer here. Magical thinking, believing thoughts and actions can influence outcomes. Arbitrary interpretation, jumping to conclusions without evidence. Mind reading, which is assuming you know what others are thinking. Emotional reasoning, which is where you let your emotions dictate your perception of reality. Disqualifying positives, which involves discounting positive events and compliments. All or nothing thinking, also called black and white thinking, only seeing things in extremes and our BOGO was selective abstraction, which is where you zoom in on a negative detail, ignoring the bigger picture.
Linton:
Well, that's quite a bit.
Stacy:
Yes, and a quick quiz before we go Lynch. What do you say? Okay, all right. What cognitive distortion is represented by this statement? I got a C on my midterm. There's no way that I can get an A in this class now. My dreams of getting into a graduate counseling program are ruined forever, and forget about getting a job. That's just hopeless.
Linton:
Hmm, let me think what is catastrophizing?
Stacy:
You got it.
Linton:
The person is envisioning an extremely negative outcome from one mediocre grade. They've gone from a C on one test to completely derailing their academic and career aspirations for the rest of their lives. It's definitely an exaggerated worst case scenario rather than a realistic perspective.
Stacy:
It also sounds like there could be a touch of some all or nothing thinking there too, with the whole if I don't get an A, then everything is ruined yeah. You know, no middle ground, they're just a very extreme perception.
Linton:
Good catch. Very often, these cognitive distortions team up and exacerbate each other. Learning to recognize them is the first step to dismantling negative thought patterns for your client. Well, thanks for joining us today and remember it's in there.
