Cognitive Restructuring Part I

Goal

To be able to challenge faulty thinking

Faulty Thinking

Thoughts are not always accurate. What we tell ourselves may or may not be correct. Negative thoughts create ruts in our brains, which can automatically lead us down a path toward feelings of depression. It is time to get out of the rut and be on a new path with more realistic, accurate, and truthful thoughts and beliefs. One of the ways you can do this is by challenging your existing thoughts.

Challenging Faulty Thinking Exercise (Barlow, p. 101)

Instructions: Identify a single faulty thought or belief and answer the following questions on a separate piece of paper:

1. What is the evidence for and against this idea?
2. Is your belief a habit or based on facts?
3. Are your interpretations of the situation too far removed from reality to be accurate?
4. Are you thinking in all-or-nothing terms?
5. Are you using words or phrases that are extreme or exaggerated? (i.e., always, forever, never, need, should, must, can’t, and every time)
6. Are you taking the situation out of context and only focusing on one aspect of the event?
7. Is the source of information reliable?
8. Are you confusing a low probability with a high probability?
9. Are your judgments based on feelings rather than facts?
10. Are you focused on irrelevant factors?

Example: You may think that there is no hope of things improving. Consider the evidence for and against this thought. Yes, life may seem bleak right now, but when you felt this way in the past, things did end up improving.

Thinking Mistakes Exercise

Instructions: Read through the table on the next page of 12 common thinking mistakes. Put a check mark next to the mistakes that you frequently experience. For the checked items, write an example of when you have made the thinking mistake.

✓	Thinking Mistake	Description	Example	Your Example
	All-or-nothing thinking	You see things in only two categories when it is really on a continuum.	Either I’m perfect or I’ve completely failed.
	Jumping to conclusions	You take one observation and are sure it has only one implication.	Since I didn’t meet the deadline, trying to improve my performance is impossible.
	Negative fortune-telling	You make a negative prediction without recognizing it is not the only possible outcome.	I won’t go to the party since no one will talk to me anyway.
	Positive fortune-telling	You are overly optimistic about the most likely outcome.	I will be able to complete my 10 page paper in an hour.
	Discounting the positive	You unreasonably discount your positive actions or qualities.	It doesn’t matter if I’ve lost a few pounds. I deserve credit only after I’ve lost all of the weight I need to lose.
	Emotional reasoning	You think your thoughts must be true because they feel true, even if there is conflicting evidence.	Since I feel so hopeless about my marriage improving, it really must be hopeless.
	Labeling	You label yourself (or someone else) in a globally negative way without really considering the whole person.	I’m bad for not taking my dog for a walk today.
	Mind reading	You are sure you know what others are thinking, even in the absence of compelling data.	Everyone will think I am stupid if I ask a question.
	Self-deluding thinking	You tell yourself things that you really do not believe at other times.	I don’t deserve a speeding ticket for going 20 mph over the speed limit since I was in a hurry.
	Dysfunctional (unhelpful) rules	You mandate what you/others must/must not do without considering circumstances.	I can only express happy, positive feelings.
	Irrelevance	You link two unrelated concepts.	It’s okay to go shopping because I’m so stressed out.
	Exaggeration	You make a sweeping statement on the basis of a small set of data.	My kids are totally out of control.

(Adapted from Beck, 2007, pp. 146-147)

Next Step

Identify additional faulty thoughts or beliefs and evaluate them using the questions from the challenging faulty thinking exercise.

Learn more about thinking mistakes by watching the following video.