Unhelpful Thinking Habits

Here are 10 unhelpful thinking habits that, if we’re honest, have left most of us feeling miserable, anxious or angry most times when we’ve engaged with them.

1. Negative focus – This is focusing on your weaknesses and dwelling on negative possibilities such as, “What if it’s really serious?”
2. Emotional reasoning – This is feeling strongly enough so it must be true, mistaking feelings for facts, “They must have had an accident”
3. Discounting the positive –  This is rejecting good things as if they don’t count, or playing down achievements, “Anyone could have done that”, “You’re only saying that to make me feel better”
4. Personalising – This is taking responsibility for events whether or not they have anything to do with you,  “The waiter just ignores me”
5. Jumping to conclusions – This can take the form of either mind reading, believing you know what others are thinking, “They think I’m stupid”, or predicting the future, “I’ll never get it right”
6. Catastrophising – This ismaking mountains out of molehills. One small mistake spells disaster, every frown a sign of rejection. “If I make a mistake I will lose my job”
7. Labelling – This is calling yourself and others pejorative names, “I’m stupid”, “You’re completely heartless”, “Anyone who does that is an idiot”
8. Generalising –  This can be assuming that because something happened to once that it will always happen. It can be thinking broadly without examples “You never to do the things I ask”, “I never seem to say the right thing”, “Politicians always lie”, “We always do things your way”
9. All or nothing thinking – everything is black or white, events are good or bad, terrific or disastrous, there are no grey in-between areas, “If you can say that then our relationship means nothing at all”, “One mistake ruined the whole thing”
10. Your own worst critic – using critical works like ‘should’, ‘must’, ‘have to’. These can make us feel like we’ve already failed. When we apply these words to others we often end up feeling frustrated.

 

#unhelfulthinkinghabits

Tags: catastrophising, counselling Belfast, unhelpful thinking habits