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7 ERRORS IN THINKING METHOD

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for a complete CBT self-help system , or for yourcounselor to discover a complete guided CBT self-help system.

"Let reason go before every enterprize, and counsel before every action."--Ecclesiasticus 38:33

7 ERRORS IN THINKING METHOD BASED ON COGNITIVE THERAPY(CT)

1) CLOSED-MINDED: Also called selective editing, selective attention,selective perception, selective abstracting, specific abstracting, mentalfiltering, mental editing, preferential selection, a cognitive bias, impairedabstract reasoning, ignoring, tunnel vision, being in a closed system, beingclosed to investigation or examination, "taking things out of context," "havingblinders on," "seeing through rose colored glasses," "tailoring the facts to fit,""hearing only what you want to hear," and "seeing only what you want to see."This is the choosing of only some of your cognitions for conscious processing,and, usually, just the good or just the bad. It can be basing the whole on onlyone or a few details while ignoring more important or other existing facts. For

example, you may have a negative bias. Thus, you find the negative, the fault,the error to focus on, so that you can maintain your negative evaluations.Twenty good things may have happened, but you consciously notice only theone or two negative things. Or you may be Pollyannaish and notice only thefew good things while ignoring the many bad.

2) DISCREDITING: Also known as discounting, disqualifying, disconfirming,minimizing, undergeneralizing, the "binocular trick," being myopic orshortsighted, "missing the big picture," and "missing the forest for the trees."This is the error of reducing a lot of evidence to a little. For example, we cando this when we deny our compliments, achievements, and good qualities. Or,when we deny our faults, failings, and frailties. It is the error of underregarding the relative significance of events. Its opposite is dramatizing.Instead, consider other views.

3) DRAMATIZING: Also known as magnifying, exaggerating, awfulizing,catastrophizing, sensationalizing, "making the news newsworthy," "taking

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things too seriously," "making a federal case out of it," "blowing things out ofproportion," and "making mountains out of mole hills." It is "missing the treesfor the forest," "seeing only the big picture," or being presbyopic orhypermetropic. Catastrophizing occurs when you make too much of an event,and imagine doom and gloom as the result of it. For example, you maybelieve that some insignificant error of yours will cause you to be fired. Wecan also sensationalize events to be good omens, harbingers of good fortunewhen they are no more than ordinary events. For example, you may believethat some small thing you did well will get you promoted. It is the error of overregarding the relative importance or meaning of evidence or events. Itsopposite is discrediting. Instead, reality test the predictions. Keep track of theiraccuracy.

4) JUMPING TO CONCLUSIONS: Also known as mind reading, fortunetelling, assuming, just guessing, making arbitrary conclusions, making aninvalid extrapolation, and making an arbitrary inference. It is the making of aninference about something that has little or no evidence to support it. We mayassume that something is going to occur only to find out later that it had littleor no chance to. It is making conclusions without much data to support them,and even in the face of greater contrary evidence. Instead, try otherperspectives.

5) ONE-WAY-OR-THE-OTHER: Also called absolutistic, extremist,dichotomous, polarized, dualistic, judgmental, linear, one-dimensional,

pigeonhole, either-or, all-or-nothing, and black-or-white thinking. It is thinkingin categorical extremes, placing all of experience into one of two categories.Extremist thinking can be characterized as the intolerance of ambiguity. Itleads to the narrowing and constricting of thought pathways, and is theinsistence of categorizing everything into extremes, into opposites, into oneend of some continuum. The middle ground and/or the majority of instancesare not recognized. Instead of percentages it believes only in absolutes.

Absolutes do occur, but not nearly as often as combinations of them orvariations on them. Instead use both-and thinking. Often both ends of acontinuum can be applied to the same event, and also additional information.

Things can be good, neutral, bad, or mixes of each. Rarely is something atotal loss, a total failure. Stop pigeonholing and instead note or use thefollowing: gradations in between, moderate, intermediate, middle ground,intermediate range, some of the time, most of the time, but not all of the time,often, a few times, sometimes, a few times, partially, continuous dimensions,shades of gray, not discrete categories, on a continuum, relative rather thanabsolute standards, complexity, variability, diversity, bell curve, normal curve.

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6) OVERGENERALIZING: Also called global, broad, nonspecific, diffused,vague, and all-inclusive thinking. This is the error of taking a little evidence tobe the proof of a lot of things: all-izing. It is the making of a general rule basedonly on isolated incidents, only on limited personal experience. For example,you may judge your or another's behavior as always being inadequate if it wasonly a few times or even just once in the past. The classic examples areracism and sexism, for example, "All men are unfeeling brutes."Overgeneralizations are general conclusions about all situations based on alimited and unrepresentative sampling or polling. Instead, recognize theindividuality and uniqueness of people, places, and things. Your experiencealone is too little and too narrow to use to make rules, laws, standards, anddefinitions for most things. Walk a mile is someone else's shoes.

7) PERSONALIZING: Also known as being overly subjective, self-centered,the egocentric error, "taking things too personally," "can't see past your nose,"and having false ideas of reference. This is the self-centered activity of takingevents to have personal meaning when they do not. It is the self-referencingof events, the connecting of events to yourself when there are no realconnections. For example, you may overhear a conversation and assume it isabout you. Or you may think the weather is plotting against you. Instead, learnto take ego out of the picture. People are reacting to a lot more in life than justyou! Get out of yourself and into action.

Derived from Beck, Aaron T., et al. (1979) Cognitive Therapy ofDepression. Schuyler, Dean. (1991). A Practical Guide to CognitiveTherapy. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., and Kaplan, Harold I.,and Sadock, Benjamin J. (1989). Comprehensive Textbook ofPsychiatry/V. Baltimore, Maryland: Williams & Wilkins. All list the same sevenwith different wording.