Cognitive Distortions

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When bad shit happens we tend to react negatively but these reactions do not help us ro tackle the problem.

_Cognitive distortions are thoughts that cognitive therapists believe cause individuals to perceive reality inaccurately. _

Because the way a person feels intervenes with how they think, these distorted thoughts can feed negative emotions and lead an individual affected by cognitive distortions towards an overall negative outlook on the world and consequently a depressive or anxious mental state.

The most common 10 distortions as follows;

SHOULD STATEMENTS

That should not have happened. Why the hell did that happen? He/she should not have done that. This should not be happening to me.

ALL OR NOTHING

This is the way it is; it’s either this or it’s that and if it’s that then it’s not this. There is black and then there’s white, there is no grey area.

TIME

He never. He always. They never. They always.

CATASTROPHIZING

I’ve lost everything. I’m fucked. oh shit if this happens then that’ll get worse and that will and then this and that

BLAME

Arrrr! This is all your/mine/her/his/their fault!!

FORGETTING OTHERS’ GOOD POINTS

self explanatory

EMOTIONAL REASONING

absence of rational analysis

OBJECTIFICATION

Reducing a human being to a derogatory word; that “cunt” “fuckin prick” “low life” “scallywag” “asshole”

NEGATIVE TUNNEL VISION

self explanatory

JUMPING TO CONCLUSIONS

self explanatory.

All of these distortions of reality, of what is, are bypassed, the more we learn to centre ourselves through meditation.

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Awesome info, and very true. We often don’t take the time to zoom out and try to observe a bigger picture, whatever that may be.

The age old advice of “take a few breaths” applies here. Now that we can detect possible cognitive distortions, we have a chance to say “wait a minute here, why am I thinking all this shit”. Pull back, zoom out and get some perspective.

Thanks Zenifon!

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I agree with everything but the part about degrading human beings to one word etc asshole, cunt, etc.
You see that would be true but many people are actively making themselves those things and the majority deserving of such titles. There’s no shortage of cunts, cucks, assholes and duchebags and that’s a fact Jack. An observable truth now, letting it bother you instead of accepting the truth of your environment and dealing with it, I believe is the issue.

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yeah I see that point but no one is beyond redemption. That is a fact.

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True but until they are redeemed I’m gonna tell it like it is. :wink:

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See Christ for a better explanation.

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I totally love you for this post :astonished:
:kissing_heart: maybe homo XD

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I actually needed this. Thanks for sharing @Zenifon!

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I’m with Adam on that one (and then some, regarding “blame” - do other people not have agency?), people have free will and are not all innocent babes in the wood, they knoweth exactly what they do!

All that “look within, remove the beam from your own eye” is fine amongst a group with broadly shared values, goals and basic trust in each other that’s been earned, but when someone outright wishes to destroy that, do you let them?

Should we drop the moderation policy and let this forum become swarmed by Xian, Muslim, New Age preachers silencing every topic that they fundamentally disagree with, on the basis they’re trying their best? What about spammers, mostly just guys in tough situations trying to make a buck or two?

Healthy boundaries make for tolerance - strong fences make good neighbours.

If you take all those “distortions” to their opposite extreme they become extremely distorted, and you have someone breaking into your car for their next crack fix, and you giving them the keys because they maybe had a tough childhood, and you only use the car to travel, the bus is cheaper and anyway, you can only truly “own” that to which you have no attachments.

Been there, done that, heard all those theories and rejected them, thanks! :wink:

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Maybe I got it wrong, this is objectification, otherwise known as labelling I believe;"

LABELING: When engaging in this distortion you generalize and make make negative characterizations regarding yourself or another person based upon a limited set of behaviors. For example, “Because you forgot my birthday and our anniversary, you are a total jerk.” It leads to calling others names such as “jerk,” “bitch,” “bum,” “@*#hole, selfish or retarded. Labeling is a form of objectification where you dehumanize yourself or another person by making them into an object, something less than human. It causes you to feel morally superior to the other person, to judge and blame them for problems and to feel angry and/or behave aggressively. Finally, it eliminates any motivation you may have to resolve problems between you and the other person. Reality testing questions: “What is the problem specifically?” “What specific behaviors am I upset about?” “This person is a human being not an object.” “How is this individual like me, can I put my self in their shoes?” “Can I see things from the other person’s point of view, e.g., stand in their shoes for a moment.”

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http://allenmorecounseling.com/cognitive-distortions/

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[quote=“Zenifon, post:10, topic:12665”]LABELING: When engaging in this distortion you generalize and make make negative characterizations regarding yourself or another person based upon a limited set of behaviors.
[/quote]

People have been doing this for millenia, most tribal names in pre-industrial societies boil down via translation as “the people” - implying that other tribes and groups are not.

I suggest we label people to remove them from our cognitive load of Real People whose opinions and welfare we need to care about, usually after having been shown they’ve got similar lack of concern for us.

Battling for resources was a zero sum game for most of human history, and those who showed compassion for an enemy seldom lived to pass along their genes, especially on the male side.

A person inclined towards non-violence, absolute love and unconditional acceptance can’t make that call, of who forfeits their right to influence your reality - that’s a common stance in some modern religions (Xianity kicked it off, and the New Age’s warped version of Hinduism and Buddhism took that even further).

I propose that a black magician is free to chose with whom he, or she, co-creates reality, and therefore to whom such personhood is granted. Or, to refuse to, of course! It’s a matter of taste. :wink:

JMO.

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If you forget the idea that this is about Christ, the point was he who is without sin etc etc…

Are you missing what Labelling is in terms of faulty reasoning?

The important part of the definition is"negative characterizations regarding yourself or another person based upon a limited set of behaviors. For example, “Because you forgot my birthday and our anniversary, you are a total jerk.”

It’s not about all the points that Nietzsche rambled on about regarding turn the other cheek etc etc, it’s simply about over magnifying some small incident and then the use of labelling gets one in a perceptual rut which dismantles our ability to reason. It’s about distortion of facts.

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[quote=“Zenifon, post:13, topic:12665”]
If you forget the idea that this is about Christ, the point was he who is without sin etc etc…

Are you missing what Labelling is in terms of faulty reasoning?

The important part of the definition is"negative characterizations regarding yourself or another person based upon a limited set of behaviors. For example, “Because you forgot my birthday and our anniversary, you are a total jerk.”[/quote]

I’m not missing that point, just stating that since people have done it for millenia, it may serve a purpose, so whilst classing oneself as a “useless moron who can’t do anything right” is flawed, so is the opposite extreme of utterly refusing to label like things as alike, where that refusal then leads to unnecessary dithering, or refusal to act based on previous experiences.

Distortion goes both ways, in other words. someone doesn’t have to poke their fingers into every electrical socket to know that they’re “electrical sockets” (and not “cool wall-holes for the magic kingdom”) before they stop doing it.

“That guy on the other side of the street looks like a dangerous lunatic” is labelling, and even blaming, but of the kind that may keep you alive.

Balance, in all things, was my point. :slight_smile:

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labelling serves a purpose for human perception but in this context we’re not taking generalized labelling, we’re talking about the verb “to label” in it’s form as a distortion of reality which perpetuates emotionally clouded faulty reasoning.

The example given about the “you missed my birthday therefore…” explains that.

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The point I’m trying to make is that these things are not, in and of themselves, distortions at all times, they can have their uses, but that all methods of framing things, all heuristics, can LEAD TO distorted methods of thinking that cripple the individual’s ability to function, or to react or act appropriately.

A person with no labelling will not know where to create bouradies, amd will snog strangers on the bus, or become incapable of self-assessment by refusing to observe repeated patterns that give them a handle on why they do such-and-such a thing.

Here’s a quick skim through of ways these can be helpful, or at least., seen differently:

SHOULD STATEMENTS

“The car should not be making that whrring noise, therefore let’s get it checked out.” Should defines what’s desirable, helpful, healthy, and which probaibilities would dictate to occur in a desired situation.

ALL OR NOTHING

“You’re a little bit pregnant. He’s a little bit dead.” Some things ARE that simple.

TIME

“Fire always burns… everytime he takes a drink, he always loses control of the rest of his intake.” etc.

CATASTROPHIZING

The reverse distortion is blind optimism or refusal to see that a situation has passed the point of easy return.

BLAME

Some things really are some people’s fault, due to their free will.

FORGETTING OTHERS’ GOOD POINTS

Remembering them may lead to indecision and allowing a situation to escalate – my boss always gropes me, but he pays well – oh look he’s just caused another worker to leave in tears, and kill herself. One good thing doesn’t eradicate harmful things, the balance must be called in each situation.

EMOTIONAL REASONING

Part of the human condition, rational analysis tends to lead to genocide! :wink: (Just yankin’ your chain with that one.)

OBJECTIFICATION

^ Done above.

NEGATIVE TUNNEL VISION

Tunnel vision per se is a survival treflex, to focus you on the fight and not the pretty butterflies over there. “Negative” is, ironically, an “all or nothing” and blaming objectification of someone’s standpoint, based usually on moral standpoint.

JUMPING TO CONCLUSIONS

Heuristics are shortcuts that let us avoid having to test every single thing anew. Can it go overboard – yes. So can drinking water!

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[quote=“Lady_Eva, post:16, topic:12665, full:true”]
The point I’m trying to make is that these things are not, in and of themselves, distortions at all times, they can have their uses, but that all methods of framing things, all heuristics, can LEAD TO distorted methods of thinking that cripple the individual’s ability to function, or to react or act appropriately.

A person with no labelling will not know where to create bouradies, amd will snog strangers on the bus, [/quote]

Yeah I see your point that Labelling and Should Statements etc are not bad…but I never said that they were… they only become bad when used to perpetuate negative emotional outlooks, which is what Cognitive Distortions are.

Btw, here’s a good lecture by a practicing psychiatrist who is also a Thelemic magician, for those interested he explains it all pretty well

9m49s in if you want to skip the intro.

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and if you want to skip all that and get to the practical how to deal with your Cognitive Distortions then go 25 mins into the video

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Sometimes an asshole needs to be told he is an asshole before he realizes he is an asshole and does something to better his reputation. Do people walk on eggshells for you? They don’t for me and if I’m an asshole I’m sure someone will let me know and at that point I might or might not say look up into the sky see those? Do you know what they are? Those are my fucks flying away, they all flew away so I can’t give a flying fuck!

Just playing the devil’s advocate for you.

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Yep. :laughing::laughing::laughing:

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