9 Cognitive Distortions that can Cause Anxiety and Depression — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00our mind lies to us all the time
2. 0:04it does it without you even realizing
3. 0:06that things are not as they appear
4. 0:09these unhelpful and inaccurate thoughts
5. 0:11are called cognitive distortions and
6. 0:13they happen because the mind tries to
7. 0:15convince us that our feelings are caused
8. 0:17by outside circumstances
9. 0:20when in fact is the way our mind
10. 0:21interprets those circumstances that
11. 0:23affects how we feel
12. 0:25it's important to be able to recognize
13. 0:27and challenge cognitive distortions
14. 0:29otherwise they can contribute to
15. 0:31feelings of anxiety and depression in
16. 0:33this video we will explore nine common
17. 0:36cognitive distortions and what you can
18. 0:38do about them
19. 0:40all or nothing thinking makes us see
20. 0:42things as either all good or all bad
21. 0:45stopping us from seeing the shades of
22. 0:47grey in the middle like coming second in
23. 0:49a contest and feeling like a failure
24. 0:50because you didn't come first
25. 0:53it also makes you think in absolute
26. 0:54terms such as always and never all and i
27. 0:57think thinking creates perfectionism and
28. 0:59sets unrealistic expectations for
29. 1:01ourselves and others which can reduce
30. 1:03our motivation and lead to failure and
31. 1:05disappointment for example you may feel
32. 1:07like your day was a waste of time
33. 1:09because you didn't complete every task
34. 1:10you set for yourself
35. 1:12you drink a whole bottle of wine because
36. 1:14you've broken your rule not to drink
37. 1:15this week and decide you might as well
38. 1:17finish it off
39. 1:19you decide that a colleague gets
40. 1:21everything wrong based on just one or
41. 1:22two mistakes if you find yourself
42. 1:25engaging in all or nothing thinking
43. 1:26remind yourself that absolutes rarely
44. 1:28exist be sure to look for the shades of
45. 1:30grey and positives in between
46. 1:33labeling is a form of all or nothing
47. 1:35thinking where we give ourselves or
48. 1:37someone else a label based on a single
49. 1:40event that doesn't really define who we
50. 1:42are for example if we label ourselves as
51. 1:44stupid after making a mistake we're more
52. 1:46likely to think and behave in this way
53. 1:48because labels can become a
54. 1:50self-fulfilling prophecy
55. 1:52when you notice your labeling stop and
56. 1:54think of the label as a snapshot
57. 1:56behavior rather than as a defining
58. 1:58characteristic and remember labels are
59. 2:01better suited to jars than they are to
60. 2:03people
61. 2:04mind reading involves making assumptions
62. 2:07about what others are thinking or
63. 2:08feeling without any evidence for example
64. 2:11if a friend doesn't reply to us
65. 2:13immediately we may jump to the
66. 2:14conclusion that they're mad at us we
67. 2:16can't read someone else's mind and so we
68. 2:19need to remember that our assumptions
69. 2:21are just projections of our own thoughts
70. 2:23and feelings
71. 2:26fortune telling is another form of
72. 2:28jumping to conclusions in which we make
73. 2:30assumptions about what's going to happen
74. 2:32often predicting things are going to go
75. 2:34badly without evidence to support the
76. 2:36prediction
77. 2:38assuming the future is set in stone can
78. 2:39lead to feelings of pessimism and
79. 2:41hopelessness
80. 2:43catastrophizing involves expecting the
81. 2:45worst case scenario in any situation
82. 2:47like experiencing turbulence and
83. 2:49expecting the plane to crash killing
84. 2:51everyone on board
85. 2:53getting a disappointing exam grade and
86. 2:55thinking you'll never get into college
87. 2:58fearing you'll be alone forever after a
88. 3:00romantic breakup
89. 3:02or waiting to get fired at work after
90. 3:04making a simple mistake
91. 3:06catastrophizing can contribute to
92. 3:08anxiety in a range of situations so what
93. 3:10can you do about it
94. 3:12de-catastrophizing involves learning to
95. 3:15question our thoughts so that we can
96. 3:16better understand our worries often we
97. 3:18realize that our worries are unlikely to
98. 3:20come true or that the worst case
99. 3:22scenario really isn't that bad or worth
100. 3:24worrying about
101. 3:27mental filtering is like wearing a pair
102. 3:29of glasses that filter out anything
103. 3:31positive
104. 3:32leaving only the negative details this
105. 3:34makes us perceive the whole situation in
106. 3:36a negative light and prevents us from
107. 3:38seeing other possibilities
108. 3:40it's important to pay attention to the
109. 3:42positives and the negatives so that we
110. 3:44can see the situation in a more
111. 3:46realistic light
112. 3:48discounting the positive is similar to
113. 3:50filtering but instead of removing the
114. 3:52positives we just tell ourselves they
115. 3:54don't count like receiving a compliment
116. 3:57and thinking that someone is just trying
117. 3:58to be nice or succeeding at something
118. 4:01and telling ourselves we just got lucky
119. 4:03if you find yourself discounting the
120. 4:05positive ask yourself why it doesn't
121. 4:07count you may find you can't think of a
122. 4:09valid reason
123. 4:12emotion or reasoning is believing your
124. 4:14feelings reflect reality for example you
125. 4:17may feel lonely seeing others having fun
126. 4:19and wrongly conclude that no one cares
127. 4:22about you
128. 4:23feelings are not facts but reflections
129. 4:25of your thoughts and beliefs try to
130. 4:27notice when you're thinking in unhelpful
131. 4:29ways and ask yourself what's the
132. 4:31evidence for how you're feeling and are
133. 4:33there alternative explanations
134. 4:35should statements make us focus too much
135. 4:38on how things should or must be creating
136. 4:40unrealistic expectations for yourself
137. 4:43and others
138. 4:44should statements make us feel apathetic
139. 4:46and lead to disappointment feelings of
140. 4:48guilt and failure with practice it gets
141. 4:51easier to notice and stop using them or
142. 4:54to replace them with more realistic word
143. 4:56statements such as i would like to be
144. 4:58better at this
145. 5:00do you recognize any of these cognitive
146. 5:02distortions in yourself the best way to
147. 5:05combat them is to become better at
148. 5:06noticing when you're using them and to
149. 5:08question whether there's a different and
150. 5:10better way to see things
151. 5:12[Music]
152. 5:15if you're interested in more ways to
153. 5:16change your mindset you may enjoy this
154. 5:19video on growth mindset and overcoming
155. 5:21fear of failure