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Sep '25 (edited) • Intellectual/Personal Growth💡
Unproductive Thinking Patterns
To continue on the theme of yesterday's topic of "Limiting beliefs", today I'd like to take some time to focus on Unproductive Thinking Patterns. In the CBT world, these are known as Cognitive Distortions. In Philosophy, they may be considered errors in logic (though we can certainly justify them). Down the line, we'll take some time to focus on each one indpendently. :)
🧠 Cognitive Distortions: patterns of thinking that twist reality and make situations seem worse, more hopeless, or more dangerous than they actually are. They affect emotions, decisions, and relationships, often without us realizing it.
Common cognitive distortions:
- ❗ Exaggerated negativity: Seeing situations as far worse than they are
- 😔 Blaming: Blaming yourself or others excessively for mistakes
- 🔮 Fortune-telling: Assuming you know the future and expecting the worst (this and catastrophizing are similar)
- ⚖️ All-or-nothing thinking: Seeing things in black and white with no middle ground (think about the times you've used the words "everyone, always, never,"
- 🌀 Overgeneralization: Taking one event and applying it to all situations
- 😰 Emotional reasoning: Believing something is true just because you feel it--this is very common!
- 👓 Filtering: Focusing only on negative aspects and ignoring positives (the same can occur in the opposite direction too--we just call it denial then)
- 🏷️ Labeling: Assigning global negative labels to yourself or others
- ❌ Should statements: Thinking you or others must behave a certain way to be acceptable (there are some "shoulds" that are helpful, however, our brain has the tendency to process "should" in a similar way whether the should is something heavy or not.
- 🔄 Personalization: Taking responsibility for events outside your control; internalizing labels that others give us;
- 🏔️ Catastrophizing: Expecting the worst-case scenario in every situation
- 🤷 Minimization: Downplaying your successes or strengths
- 🧩 Magnification: Overemphasizing mistakes or flaws in yourself or others
These thought patterns are problematic because they:
- Increase anxiety, stress, and depression
- Reduce confidence and decision-making ability
- Harm relationships and communication
- Keep you stuck in unhelpful cycles of thought
- They're not aligned with truth/reality and this distorts our ability to navigate life effectively.
Below are some resources for printing if you are so inclined---they just further expand on the above! :)
The video talks about some of the strategies for addressing these.
Question to ponder: Do I find myself leaning into any of these categories? What factors contribute to me having these leanings? (also---is there one that you'd like more information on for a future post?)
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Unproductive Thinking Patterns
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