Cognitive Distortions

Dichotomous or all-or-none reasoning

involves a tendency to think in extremes

Selective abstraction

involves a tendency to focus on one negative detail of a situation while ignoring other elements of the situation

Arbitrary inference

involves jumping to a con clusion based on minimal or no evidence.

Arbitrary inference

A depressed person might say, after an initial homework assign ment from a cognitive therapist did not work, “This therapy will never work for me

Selective abstraction

Someone might say, “I didn’t have a moment of pleasure or fun today”

Dichotomous or all-or-none reasoning

“If I can’t get it 100 percent right, there’s no point in doing it at all.”

Overgeneralization

involves drawing broad conclusions based on limited or isolated events, often using terms like "always" or "never"

Arbitrary inference

making conclusions without sufficient evidence, or even in the face of contradictory evidence, often based on assumptions or gut feelings

Catastrophizing

distorted thinking leads people to dread or assume the worst when faced with the unknown

Personalization

taking things personally when they’re not connected to or caused by you at all