Cognitive distortions: list, examples and a worksheet

Each entry gives the pattern in a sentence and one made-up example of how it can sound. Open an entry for more examples and ways to catch that pattern.

1. 1. Catastrophizing

   Catastrophizing is imagining the worst possible outcome and starting to believe it will happen.

   Example: “If I miss this deadline, I’ll lose my job, then the flat, then everything.”

2. 2. Mind reading

   Mind reading is assuming you know what someone else is thinking. Often we imagine that their thoughts are about us, and that they are negative.

   Example: “They didn’t smile back, so they must think I’m strange.”

3. 3. Fortune telling

   Fortune telling is predicting how things will turn out, often as the worst case, even when that is unlikely. Psychology Tools describes it as a form of “jumping to conclusions”: imagining and predicting that bad things are going to happen to us.

   Example: “I’ll mess up the interview anyway, so why prepare?”

4. 4. All-or-nothing thinking

   All-or-nothing thinking is seeing things in extremes, such as good or bad, success or failure, without noticing the shades of grey in between.

   Example: “I missed one workout, so the whole plan is ruined.”

5. 5. Overgeneralization

   Overgeneralization is drawing a broad conclusion from a single event: assuming that one bad thing happening means more bad things will follow, or judging your ability, performance or worth on one incident.

   Example: “I got one bad review, so I’ll never be good at my job.”

6. 6. Mental filter

   A mental filter means focusing only on the negative parts of a situation and ignoring other information, including anything positive or neutral. James Madison University’s counseling center likens it to mental tunnel vision.

   Example: “Nine comments were kind and one was harsh, and the harsh one is all I can think about.”

7. 7. Discounting the positive

   Discounting, or disqualifying, the positive is ignoring or dismissing good things that have happened, for example by writing them off as flukes, so that neutral or even positive experiences turn into negative ones.

   Example: “My boss praised the report, but she says that to everyone.”

8. 8. Should statements

   Should statements are thinking that things must or should be a certain way, for yourself or other people. They can set very high, sometimes unrealistic expectations.

   Example: “I should have my whole life sorted by thirty.”

9. 9. Labeling

   Labeling is giving yourself or someone else a negative label based on the outcome of one small event.

   Example: “I stumbled over one word in my speech. I’m hopeless.”

10. 10. Emotional reasoning

    Emotional reasoning is treating your emotions as facts: believing something must be true because you feel it strongly, without looking at the actual evidence.

    Example: “I feel guilty, so I must have done something wrong.”

11. 11. Personalization

    Personalization is assuming that things you see, hear or experience are about you or caused by you. It can lead to feeling overly responsible, or blaming yourself for things that are not fully in your control.

    Example: “The party was quiet. I must have made it awkward.”

1. Write the thought exactly as it sounds in your head, even if it is blunt or unfair.
2. Read down the list and tick every trap that might fit. One thought can hold two or three; ticking none is fine too.
3. Write a more balanced version: the same situation, told with only what you actually know.
4. Put it on one page and print it if you want to keep it. Nothing you type is sent anywhere.

The balanced version does not have to be cheerful. “They went quiet and I don’t know why yet” is more balanced than “they hate me”, and also more balanced than “everything is fine”.

A psychologist at Cleveland Clinic suggests catching these thoughts early, remembering that a thought is not a fact, and listening for trigger words such as “always”, “never”, “everyone”, “no one”, “nothing”, “everything” and “forever”.

She also suggests writing the thoughts down, where their keywords are easier to spot, and asking yourself whether you would see it differently if a friend were telling you this.

Spotting a trap is not the same as proving the thought wrong: there can be a real problem inside it. Once you have named the trap, ask what the problem underneath is, and whether it is one you can act on.

Cognitive distortions were first noted by Aaron Beck in his research with depressed patients in the 1960s.

A 2016 paper in Europe’s Journal of Psychology, drawing on David Burns (1980), lists ten cognitive distortions: mindreading, catastrophizing, all-or-nothing thinking, emotional reasoning, labeling, mental filtering, overgeneralization, personalization, should statements, and minimizing or disqualifying the positive.

This page uses everyday names for them. The sources name some of them differently: “disqualifying” or “minimizing” the positive, and “filtering” for the mental filter.