Cognitive distortions: 7 ways in which the mind sabotages us
Self esteem. One of the concepts most used, treated, and consequently grounded in the history of psychology. The cognitive current (that which includes "the mental" within the human equation) is what initiated the concept of self-esteem at the time, defining it as the form (positive or negative) in which we value ourselves. And it is this same branch that defines self-esteem as a major participant in mental health or the absence of mental health . With a positive self-esteem, you most likely have more positive thoughts about the world and yourself, a more optimistic perception of the future, and a greater subjective feeling of happiness .
However, self-esteem is not a fixed factor in our mind, something that does not change over time and that does not depend on the situations we live. In fact, it can grow or decrease depending on something we know as Cognitive distortions .
When self-esteem is low ...
Self-esteem can give us the opportunity to feel good just by being who we are. However, if the self-esteem is negative the effects are reversed. It is not that he is responsible for the factors of these enumerated factors, but that correlates with thoughts of its own valence , of its same sign so to speak. If we have bad self-esteem, this will be both cause and consequence of negative thoughts and perceptions.
And it is in this vicious circle where cognitive distortions, irrational ideas and negative automatic thoughts are hidden. The triad of mental evil, according to cognitive psychology. Briefly, we will define irrational ideas as beliefs that have no contact with reality and that are harmful to ourselves (Everyone must approve my behavior, otherwise I'm worthless) and the negative automatic thoughts as negative judgments in line with the first (is not laughing at my joke, I'm worthless). Cognitive distortions work by relying on these two elements to get us to have a vision of what is markedly biased.
Where are the cognitive distortions hidden?
If we pay attention to how cognitive distortions operate, we see that they are nothing other than the intermediate step between the two already described; the process or the operation that makes our mind to transform irrational belief in negative automatic thinking . That is, the way in which our own mind attacks us.
Let's give a general example to simplify things.
We wake up one day full of energy and start the routine circuit of shower, coffee and toast. It's not that there's anything special in the process, but it feels really good. On the way to work we think about how close that position of Section Director is for which we have been striving for months.
"I'm sure they give it to me, I deserve it"we think What is our surprise when we arrived at work and we found that next to our table, the things of the companion have disappeared and are being transported to the office of the vacancy of Section Management ... They have given it to him. It stings us, but on the other hand, it is a companion, and we are happy for him .
A fairly common situation, is not it? Let's see what our mind would do if it followed the logic of some of the most damaging distortions.
Types of cognitive distortions
What are the main cognitive distortions? Next we describe them.
1. Hypergeneralization
Consists in choose a specific fact, draw a general rule from it and never check this rule , so that it is always true. Possibly "I will never be good enough for the position" is what we would think if we hypergeneralize when we do not receive it.
We know that we are hypergeneralizing when we use terms that are too absolute to be true: always, each, none, never, nobody, everyone.
2. Global designation
The mechanism would be the same as the previous one. With the same situation, the only thing our minds do differently is to give us a global label instead of a general rule . So the thought would be: "I am a failure".
The moment we begin to use clichés and stereotypes of our behavior in an insulting way, we should begin to contemplate the possibility of falling into this cognitive distortion.
3. Filtering
Through this type of cognitive distortions, the mind filters the lived reality by selecting some aspects and ignoring others . In the example, we would focus on the loss of the opportunity of the position, and how useless we are, but we would overlook the fact that we can improve and the joy we feel for our partner.
We can worry about this distortion when we criticize recurrently by topics, losses, injustices, or stupidities, or if these terms appear in criticism.
4. Polarized thinking
If we had committed this distortion, the given example would have started from a premise such as: "If you do not give me the position now, my professional future will be over". Is about an absolutist way of thinking; white or black, with no option to gray .
Posing challenges, goals or realities with conditional ("if not ...") and opposing options ("or give me the position, or ...") gives us the clue to be using this distortion.
5. Self-accusation
It consists in thinking in a way that the fault of the bad always falls on ourselves , what is different from that we have or not real responsibility. Applied to the example would take the form of: "Of course, if everything has been done wrong, how stupid I have been for even dreaming of the position. I'll apologize to Pedro if he thought I'm not happy for him. "
A symptom of this cognitive distortion is continually asking for forgiveness. We feel really guilty about something in particular, and we ask for forgiveness compulsively.
6. Personalization
It occurs in that situation in which we feel as if we were guilty or were related in some way to all the problems of our environment. It is similar to self-accusation, only that monopolizes the reality of all those around us, giving us the leading role .
In the example, the thought would be something like "I knew it. I knew that the boss had me sworn not to keep those clips. What I had not imagined is that he would ally with Pedro to exclude me. "
7. Reading the mind
As the name suggests, the error or distortion is in assume that we know what the other thinks or feels about us . What really happens is that we project our own emotions on the rest; we assume that the rest will think or feel like us.
Cognitive distortion is especially harmful in this case, because it involves a constant attack in real time on self-esteem. Its form would be: "Of course, it's that I do not like the boss. He thinks I do not do enough and that's why he leaves me here nailed. "
The mind deceives us. What can we do?
In short, although it is true that this knowledge about cognitive distortions is not exactly new, it is also true that they are not of public order. Today, in a world where self-esteem has adopted a new digital dimension, it is necessary that we all emphasize those failures that the human mind tends to commit at the time of valuing yourself. The existence of cognitive distortions is a sign that, although we do not realize it, there are processes that work silently within our body causing us to have a simplistic and sifted version of many issues.
Without going any further, the examples shown here are part of life in such a natural way that they are considered "ways of being" as if the human being were designed to complicate life. It is a fallacy to think that we have no choice but to resign ourselves to harm ourselves and not to value ourselves as we deserve.
That is why we can not forget our personal direction in our own lives, and ask ourselves the key question: What now? Will we let this be again a heavy reminder or will we choose to use these small brushstrokes of knowledge?
As usual, the decision is in each one of us .
