Identify and briefly, explain the ten cognitive distortions enumerated by Burns

Cognitive Distortions - Definition

Cognitive distortions are logical, but they are not rational. David Burns provided 10 forms of twisted thinking. They all would cause real difficulties with the way we think.

ALL-OR-NOTHING THINKING: Things are viewed in the form of black-and-white categories. For example, if your shortfall in the performance, you consider as a total failure in that performance.

OVERGENERALIZATION: Never ending the pattern of defeat would be considered for a single negative event.

MENTAL FILTER: Picking single negative detail and exclusively dwelling on it so that all your reality vision would turn out be darkened as a drop of ink which discolors entire water.

DISQUALIFYING THE POSITIVE: Positive experiences are rejected insisting that they do not count for some reason by maintaining negative beliefs although they are contradicted by the experience that happens every day.

JUMPING TO CONCLUSIONS: Making negative interpretations, although there is a lack of convincing conclusion to support the facts.

MIND READING: Concluding arbitrarily that negative reaching of someone near to you but not bother to checking out this.

THE FORTUNETELLER ERROR: The things will turn out badly was already anticipated by you. However, you know that this is an already established fact as you predicted this event already.

MAGNIFICATION (CATASTROPHIZING) OR MINIMIZATION: Important things are exaggerated by goofing up or at the same time until things appear tiny, you inappropriately shrink things it may be your desirable qualities or imperfections of others. “Binocular trick” is the name given to magnification or minimization.

EMOTIONAL REASONING: You feel that only based on the negative emotions, things are reflected in a way: "I feel it. Therefore it must be true."

SHOULD STATEMENTS: As if you had to be whipped and punished before you could be expected to do anything, you would be motivating yourself with should and shouldn't. Offenders are "Musts" and "ought’s". The guilt is the consequences of emotional. You feel anger, frustration, and resentment when you direct statement towards others.

LABELING AND MISLABELING: Extreme form of overgeneralization is the labeling and mislabeling. You attach a negative label to yourself. "I'm a loser." instead of describing your error. You attach a negative label to him" "He's a Goddamn louse" When someone else's behavior rubs you the wrong way. To describe an event, language that is highly colored and emotionally loaded would be used for mislabeling.

PERSONALIZATION: Although you were not primarily responsible for the cause, you see yourself as a primary responsible for the negative external event

References

HealthyMind.com. (2004). when the life hurts, there is a help. Cognitive distortions. Adapted from the source Burns, David., M.D (1989). The Feeling Good Handbook. New York: William Marrow and Company, Inc. Retrieved online on December 3, 2009, from http://www.healthymind.com/s-distortions.html