Thinking Patterns That Bring You Down

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) has become a standard for helping alleviate depression, anxiety, substance use, anger, and eating disorders. It is rooted in research that shows our thoughts can determine our emotions and teaches us to change negative thought patterns.

There are several types of negative thoughts, which are like traps that hold us in unhelpful emotional and behavioral patterns. One of the first steps to CBT is identifying which types of negative thoughts have taken root in your mind. These are a few of the most common types.

All or Nothing Thinking is a type of inflexible thinking. For example, “If I don’t get a perfect performance eval then I’m a failure.” Similarly, Mental Filter prevents us from paying attention to all the facts—only seeing our failures and not our successes. 

Overgeneralization happens when we draw conclusions based on a single event, i.e. “everything always goes wrong.” Disqualifying the Positive is similar; it occurs when we ignore the positive things in our life, finding reasons they “don’t count” or don’t representative us. 

Jumping to Conclusions includes two subtypes. Mind Reading happens when we assume we know what others are thinking (“They think I’m stupid.” Or “My family doesn’t appreciate me.”). Fortune Telling occurs when we believe we know the future (“I’ll never get that promotion.”).

Magnification is sometimes called catastrophising (turning everything into a catastrophe). It happens when we blow things out of proportion. Minimization is the opposite—failing to treat things with the importance they deserve, such as ignoring health advice from your doctor. 

Emotional Reasoning happens when we assume that our feelings must be true, i.e. assuming no one likes you because you feel lonely.  Personalization occurs when we blame ourselves for something that’s not our responsibility, such as a partner’s mood after a bad day at work.

Using Critical Words such as “must,” “should,” or “ought to” may be applied to ourselves or others. Turned inward, thoughts such as “I should know better” lead to shame. Turned outward, thoughts like “They ought to treat me better” usually lead to frustration. 

Labeling occurs when we give labels to ourselves or others. These could be negative labels such as “dumb,” “stupid,” or “failure,” or even positive labels such as “perfect” or “charmed.” Labels prevent us from seeing ourselves or others as a whole person—with good and bad traits.

Often we have “practiced” these negative thinking patterns for years and they become the automatic voice in our head. They can even turn into core beliefs we hold. CBT can help us challenge these thoughts and replace them with healthier ones that improve our mood and functioning.