Faulty Thinking Patterns
Goal
To be able to challenge faulty thinking patterns
Thinking Mistakes
As you have learned, thoughts are not always accurate. What we tell ourselves may or may not be correct. In addition to having personal stuck points after a traumatic experience, stuck points related to other people and society at large occur as well. There are general faulty thinking patterns that are helpful to learn to gain awareness into your additional stuck points. The goal is to achieve a more balanced and realistic perspective.
Faulty Thinking Exercise
Instructions: Read through the table below 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.