Improve Depressed Mood (Part II)

Goal

To learn how to challenge thinking errors.

Thinking Errors (Otto et al., pp. 68-70)

We all make errors from time to time in how we think about ourselves and others. When someone is struggling with depression, they tend to have even more errors in their thinking. Consider these different types of thinking errors to better understand how depression may be negatively influencing your thoughts:

All-or-Nothing Thinking (Black-and-White Thinking)
You think in black and white terms; there are no gray areas. This type of thinking is unrealistic because things are seldom all or nothing, good or bad.

Overgeneralization
You assume that a one-time negative occurrence will happen again and again. You use words like “always” or “never” to make generalizations.

Mental Filter
You focus exclusively on negative details and ignore anything positive. Since you are filtering out the positives, you see the entire situation as negative.

Disqualifying the Positive
You turn positives into negatives by insisting they “don’t count.” This allows you to maintain your negative outlook despite positive experiences.

Jumping to Conclusions
In the absence of solid evidence, you jump to a negative conclusion. There are two types of this: “mind reading” and the “fortune teller error.”

Mind Reading
You assume that you know what someone else is thinking. You are so convinced that the person is having a negative reaction to you, you don’t even take the time to confirm your guess.

The Fortune Teller Error
You act as a fortune teller who only predicts the worst for you. You then treat your unrealistic prediction as if it were a proven fact.

Magnification (Catastrophizing) or Minimization
You magnify negative things, blowing their importance out of proportion. The outcome of an event appears catastrophic to you.
You minimize positive things, shrinking down their significance. You make good experiences out to be smaller than they are.

Emotional Reasoning
You take your emotions as proof of the way things really are. You assume something is true because you feel it is.

“Should” Statements
You build your expectations with “shoulds,” “musts,” and “oughts.” When you don’t follow through, you feel guilty. When others disappoint you, you feel angry and resentful.

Labeling and Mislabeling
You label yourself or someone else, rather than just identifying the behavior.
You mislabel an event by using inaccurate and emotionally extreme language.

Personalization
You take responsibility for things that you don’t have control over. You feel guilty because you assume a negative event is your fault.

Thinking Errors Exercise

Instructions: Choose three of the above thinking errors and come up with examples from the past few weeks when you have made the thinking error.

Examining Thoughts (Otto et al., pp. 72-73; 81; 87)

In order to examine negative thoughts effectively, it is helpful to use a thought record. Given that thought records involve writing, they allow you to slow down your thought process and produce written sentences that you can read back to yourself and consider objectively. The process of putting negative thoughts into writing also has the benefit of decreasing the power the thoughts have over you. Negative thoughts have more power when they can just flit through your mind versus when you write them down and begin to examine them.

You start by identifying your dysfunctional thoughts and associated feelings. Then you evaluate the accuracy of your thoughts and begin generating alternative ways of viewing events. When challenging your thoughts, ask yourself: “What evidence do I have that this thought is true?” or “What evidence do I have against this thought?” Through challenging your thoughts, you’ll be able to come up with more reasonable or likely interpretations to upsetting situations.

For example, if your automatic thought is that you are not good at anything, you could generate evidence against this by identifying something that you are good at. A reasonable alternative response would be that there are some things that you don’t do well just as there are things that you are able to do well.

Thought Record Exercise (Otto et al., p. 77)

Instructions: Complete an entry on the below thought record using a recent situation that led to an unpleasant emotion.

Next Step

Try to complete several entries in the thought record each week. Refer to the thinking errors when coming up with your automatic thoughts. Here’s a chart of feelings that may be helpful in completing the second column: http://www.psychpage.com/learning/library/assess/feelings.html