The most common cognitive distortions in anxiety have a very clear goal: to intensify suffering, the mind is trapped in rigid and negative thought patterns that act as a trap, such as quicksand where reason, logic and internal balance sink, besides the world becomes threatening and every problem, however small, has no solution.
While such psychological dynamics are characteristic of conditions such as anxiety or depression, it should be noted that we all use cognitive distortions at some point in life. Who has never applied, for example, an emotional reasoning that leads to ideas like “If right now I feel uncomfortable and incompetent it’s because I’m incompetent. “
- Although our minds treat certain things in a false and harmful way for us.
- Most of the time we try to keep control.
- When we analyze reality more calmly we choose to maintain a little more realistic (and friendly) attitudes.
However, the problem arises when this is not possible for us, when emotions do not accompany thoughts, external difficulties are very complex and our psychological resources are minimal, in these circumstances it is easy to end up constantly fueling these negative fiscal distortions.
Identifying them, knowing how they act and taking away their power is the best strategy we can learn, our well-being will thank you.
“I can’t take it anymore, it’s unbearable, am I going to go crazy?” This type of reasoning generates a kind of mental fog where only anxiety and doom are breathed. If you constantly reinforce such approaches, the wear and tear will be immense.
However, cognitive distortions are essentially tricks of the mind, systematic means by which we distort information about the environment, what happens to us and what we see, if we wonder why we use this type of mechanism, the answer is more complex than sometimes due to a feedback system between emotions and thoughts themselves.
I feel bad and, as a result, I think of negative things and these thoughts feed my discomfort more. In other cases, cognitive distortions are patterns that we almost always use without realizing it. A complicated parenting or somewhat loving parents often make us interpret things strenuously. Also, if our self-esteem is also low, it’s easy to fall into this kind of mental trap.
Let’s see what are the most common cognitive distortions in anxiety
Think of the worst to be prepared. We assume that this is a good strategy when in fact all we can do is increase our anxiety in a devastating way.
Phrases like: “If I don’t pass this exam, I can give up my career, so it’s best to start by assuming I’m worthless” or “Given what’s going on, it’s clear that things will get worse and no one will. work “are examples of this common cognitive distortion.
Any reasoning that begins with the words “always”, “never”, “all” or nothing, applies a polarized thought. It’s these ways of dealing with reality where everything is good or bad, or you’re with me or against me, or I get what I want or collapse because I’m useless.
This way of giving such extreme value to intransigent things is a very marked form of suffering.
Sometimes our attention has an unusual and distorted tendency: to see the negative side of life in every situation. One of the most common cognitive distortions of anxiety is selective abstraction. It happens when we have only the darkest reality left, when we interpret things in the most harmful way to ourselves.
An example of this kind of thinking would be: I invited everyone in the office to my birthday and Claudia is the only one who didn’t come, I’m sure she hates me and the others are here just out of obligation?.
If my boss is arguing with someone in the office, is it because of something I did?,?If the cashier treats me brutally, it’s because people don’t like me?,?The presentation of the work I did today was a disaster and, therefore, all my presentations will be terrible because I do not serve anything ?.
This type of reasoning is the result of this negative internal dialogue in which we personalize every fact we see, as if it were all our responsibility.
Anxiety has a tendency: to make us believe that we are the Oracle of Delphi, we assume the role of soothsayers to accept a large number of situations, the most common are:
In conclusion, knowing what are the most common cognitive distortions of anxiety can allow us to do two things: the first is to detect the thought patterns that feed discomfort; the second is to understand how the human spirit works and how, if we do. don’t control it and set limits, you can act like our worst enemy.
For all this, the best option is to learn to take care of our minds, to see it as a garden in which only thoughts that help, motivate, that make us feel precious beings germinate.