“I have the worst luck in the world, oh my God, how ominous I am” “I just failed my math test; I’m not good at anything in my life” “This person lied to me, everyone is a liar.”

We all fall into the cycle of making and generalizing these judgments, especially after experiencing negative traumatic experiences.

It is true that it is normal for you to have some of those thoughts that make you feel pessimistic from time to time, but always following them with different changing situations can take a toll on your life.

What are cognitive distortions?

The above are examples of cognitive distortions and distorted perceptual patterns that cause people to interpret reality in inaccurate ways dominated by pessimism and negativity.

They are frequent mistakes that you follow in your thinking pattern, which lead to distorting your perception of life and your assessment of the circumstances and people around you, because when you suffer from a cognitive distortion, your interpretation will often be biased, unrealistic or objective.

It is true that it is a phenomenon that occurs to many people, but if it is reinforced and followed with various matters, the person will develop chronic mental and psychological diseases.

Cognitive distortions lead to chronic anxiety and depression, and threaten relationships and quality of life.

Excessive generalization is associated with the development of various anxiety disorders and suffering from PTSD (Pixels)

How do we get this type of cognitive distortion?

Research indicates that people develop cognitive distortions as a defensive method when dealing with difficult life events, and the longer and more severe events last, the greater the likelihood of long-term cognitive distortion in the sufferer.

One theory, according to Healthline, is that humans tend to develop these distorted perceptions as a kind of survival style, to protect themselves from potential dangers.

In other words, stress can cause some people to develop their thinking in ways they think are helpful in order to stay well and protected.

Thoughts are not necessarily rational or correct at all, especially when they are followed for long periods and in different circumstances, but they take root and become stronger in the sufferer whenever he is exposed to exciting pressures that enhance the feeling of fear and a sense of danger.

Types of perceptual distortions

  • black and white style

The "all or nothing" pattern is known as "black and white" thinking, or polarized thinking.

This type of thinking involves viewing things from an absolute and exclusive perspective;

Attitudes are always right or wrong, success or failure.

The problem with this type of thinking is that it never allows for anything intermediate or relative to be acknowledged, which erodes the sufferer's motivation and confidence and makes it difficult to stick to long-term goals.

For example, if you fail one test you see yourself as an academic failure.

Stress can cause some people to develop their thinking in ways that they think are beneficial in order to stay well and protect the pixels.

  • excessive generalization

Generalization occurs when you make a rule after a single event or series of coincidences, and apply it to other changing circumstances.

A sign of this confused pattern of thinking is the constant use of words such as "always" or "never."

Given one experience in one situation, this calls for the assumption that all future events will have the same result.

Overgeneralization is usually associated with the development of various anxiety disorders and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), because when people have a bad experience in a situation, they assume that the same thing will happen again in the same way.

  • Underestimate the positives

Positive dismissal is a cognitive distortion that involves ignoring or nullifying the value of the good things that happen to you, blaming them either on sheer luck or the fault of others.

According to the Very Well Mind website, when you achieve a certain career success, you attribute it to your subordinates' failure to evaluate you accurately, or just luck.

When people use this perceptual pattern, they see the positive as luck or an error.

Because positives are always valued as an unrealistic exception, the sufferer does not expect them to happen again.

This distortion undermines your belief in your abilities, leaves you frustrated and undervalued.

Instead of recognizing your strength, you assume that you are not qualified, you just get lucky, or you can deceive others.

  • jumping to conclusions

There are 3 ways to jump to conclusions:

Mind reading:

When you think someone will react a certain way, or you think they are thinking about certain things.

For example, judging someone is talking about you just by looking at you.

Prognostication:

When you anticipate that events will lead to a certain outcome, and begin to be pessimistic in preparation for something wrong.

For example, believing that you will die if your partner breaks up with you and that you will never find happiness.

Dramatization: Dramatization

is associated with jumping to conclusions, in which case you jump towards the worst possible outcome in each scenario, no matter how unrealistic. This cognitive distortion often comes with questions like “what if?”.

For example: What if your alarm doesn't ring, you're late for a meeting, and you get fired after working so hard all those years?

  • personalization

Personalization leads you to believe that you are responsible for all external events, and this cognitive distortion often leads to feelings of guilt or blame and accusations of yourself and others.

And by personalizing you can also take things too personally.

For example, if your friend talks about his misconceptions about parenting, his words will be an attack on your approach to your child.

Remember that in many cases what bothers you is not the events themselves, but your thoughts, your assessment and your interpretation of things (Unsplash)

Methods for correcting perceptual distortions

Most irrational thinking patterns can be reversed once you become aware of them, and this also applies to negative thinking.

However, sometimes cognitive distortions can be associated with psychological and mental disorders, such as personality disorders, making them more difficult to treat.

Hiring a mental health professional in cognitive behavioral therapy helps to identify the best ways to correct the underlying problem for each belief.

In the meantime, try to remember that in many cases what bothers you is not the events themselves, but your thoughts, judgment, and interpretation of things.

It is true that you may not be able to change events, but you can work to redirect your thoughts and change your view of the world around you.

Through the following changes, according to Psychcentral, recovery begins:

Review your thoughts:

If an event is bothering you, stay away from it relatively and focus on what you tell yourself about it objectively.

Replacing the Absolute Once you've focused on your thoughts and identified a negative pattern, consider replacing phrases like "always" and "nothing" with "sometimes" and "maybe."

Define yourself and others:

Try to label the behavior rather than generalizing it to yourself and others, meaning that instead of labeling the other person as "lazy," identify that he or she needed an extra day of rest before helping you.

Focus on the positive:

Even if it's difficult at first, what if you find at least 3 positive examples of everything.

By recognizing and redirecting negative thoughts, you can drastically improve your mood and quality of life.