Re: Cognitive therapy list

[Guest guest]

Hi MG,

I'm not sure who posted it before, but I'm happy to reproduce for

you the list my therapist gave me. I'm sure this is copyrighted

somewhere, it says it's from Burns (1980) and Persons (1989).

Perhaps our official counselers out there can give us more

references for this sortof thing. Besides the general knowledge of

BPD, this list has been the biggest key so far in my quest for

happiness and recovery. My time with nada consisted about 95% of

her jumping from one distortion to another.

List of Cognitive Distortions:

1. All or nothing thinking: See things in black and white

categories. If your performance falls short of perfect, you see

yourself as a total failure.

2. Overgeneralization: You see a single negative event as a never-

ending pattern.

3. Mental filter: You pick out a single negative detail and dwell

on it exclusiely, so that your vision of all reality becomes

darkened.

4. Disqualifying the positive: You reject positive experiences by

insisting they 'don't count' for some reason or other. This way,

you can maintain a negative belief that is contradicted by your

everyday experiences. (Note to KOs: this one might cause us to

split as bad or useless anyone who is actually on our side or

defends us, to write them off as wrong just as nada would have done).

5. Jumping to conclusions: You make a negative interpretation even

though there are no definite facts that convincingly support your

conclusion. (Mind reading: arbitrarily conclude that someone is

responding negatively to you regardless of their actual behaviour;

Fortune-teller: anticipate that things will turn out badly, which

becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy).

6. Magnification/minimization: You exaggerrate the importance of

things (such as a goof-up at work) or inapprpriately shrink good

things until they appear tiny (such as your own desirable qualities

or your opponent's imperfections). This is also called

the 'binocular trick'.

7. Catastrophizing: You attribute extreme and horrible

consequences to the outcome of events. A turndown for a date means

utter isolation. Making a mistake at work means you will be fired

and will never find another job. (Note to list: this is my worst

one! Charlie)

8. Emotional reasoning: You assume that negative emotions reflect

the way things are--I feel it so it must be true. (Charlie: this

is my second worst one!

9. 'Should' statements: You try to motivate yourself

with 'shoulds' and 'shouldn'ts', as if you need to be punished into

doing anything. Must and ought are also offenders. The emotional

consequence is guilt. Directing 'should' towards others also causes

anger, frustration and resentment. (Ex: you should do the dishes

if you love me.)

10. Labeling and mislabeling: this is an extreme form of

overgeneralization. Instead of describing your error, you attach a

negative label to yourself. (I didn't do the dishes, so I am a

loser.) When someone else's behaviour rubs you the wrong way, you

split them all bad: 'he's a louse'. Mislabeling involves

describing an event with highly colored, charged language.

11. Personalization: You see negative events as indicative of a

negative characteristic in yourself and take responsibility for

events that were not your doing.

> Could the person who posted the cognitive therapy list please post

> this list again. Are you using a book? Title? Thank you, this

> sounds like just what I need. Take care, mg

[Guest guest]

> > Could the person who posted the cognitive therapy list please

post

> > this list again. Are you using a book? Title? Thank you, this

> > sounds like just what I need. Take care, mg

[Guest guest]

Charlie,

Thanks so much for posting the explanations for the worksheets and

for this list. I appreciate the time and trouble you took to help us

out.

Sylvia

> Hi MG,

>

> I'm not sure who posted it before, but I'm happy to reproduce for

> you the list my therapist gave me. I'm sure this is copyrighted

> somewhere, it says it's from Burns (1980) and Persons (1989).

> Perhaps our official counselers out there can give us more

> references for this sortof thing. Besides the general knowledge of

> BPD, this list has been the biggest key so far in my quest for

> happiness and recovery. My time with nada consisted about 95% of

> her jumping from one distortion to another.

>

> List of Cognitive Distortions:

>

> 1. All or nothing thinking: See things in black and white

> categories. If your performance falls short of perfect, you see

> yourself as a total failure.

>

> 2. Overgeneralization: You see a single negative event as a never-

> ending pattern.

>

> 3. Mental filter: You pick out a single negative detail and dwell

> on it exclusiely, so that your vision of all reality becomes

> darkened.

>

> 4. Disqualifying the positive: You reject positive experiences by

> insisting they 'don't count' for some reason or other. This way,

> you can maintain a negative belief that is contradicted by your

> everyday experiences. (Note to KOs: this one might cause us to

> split as bad or useless anyone who is actually on our side or

> defends us, to write them off as wrong just as nada would have

done).

>

> 5. Jumping to conclusions: You make a negative interpretation

even

> though there are no definite facts that convincingly support your

> conclusion. (Mind reading: arbitrarily conclude that someone is

> responding negatively to you regardless of their actual behaviour;

> Fortune-teller: anticipate that things will turn out badly, which

> becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy).

>

> 6. Magnification/minimization: You exaggerrate the importance of

> things (such as a goof-up at work) or inapprpriately shrink good

> things until they appear tiny (such as your own desirable qualities

> or your opponent's imperfections). This is also called

> the 'binocular trick'.

>

> 7. Catastrophizing: You attribute extreme and horrible

> consequences to the outcome of events. A turndown for a date means

> utter isolation. Making a mistake at work means you will be fired

> and will never find another job. (Note to list: this is my worst

> one! Charlie)

>

> 8. Emotional reasoning: You assume that negative emotions reflect

> the way things are--I feel it so it must be true. (Charlie: this

> is my second worst one!

>

> 9. 'Should' statements: You try to motivate yourself

> with 'shoulds' and 'shouldn'ts', as if you need to be punished into

> doing anything. Must and ought are also offenders. The emotional

> consequence is guilt. Directing 'should' towards others also

causes

> anger, frustration and resentment. (Ex: you should do the dishes

> if you love me.)

>

> 10. Labeling and mislabeling: this is an extreme form of

> overgeneralization. Instead of describing your error, you attach a

> negative label to yourself. (I didn't do the dishes, so I am a

> loser.) When someone else's behaviour rubs you the wrong way, you

> split them all bad: 'he's a louse'. Mislabeling involves

> describing an event with highly colored, charged language.

>

> 11. Personalization: You see negative events as indicative of a

> negative characteristic in yourself and take responsibility for

> events that were not your doing.

>

..................

[Guest guest]

Charlie,

Thanks so much for posting the explanations for the worksheets and

for this list. I appreciate the time and trouble you took to help us

out.

Sylvia

> Hi MG,

>

> I'm not sure who posted it before, but I'm happy to reproduce for

> you the list my therapist gave me. I'm sure this is copyrighted

> somewhere, it says it's from Burns (1980) and Persons (1989).

> Perhaps our official counselers out there can give us more

> references for this sortof thing. Besides the general knowledge of

> BPD, this list has been the biggest key so far in my quest for

> happiness and recovery. My time with nada consisted about 95% of

> her jumping from one distortion to another.

>

> List of Cognitive Distortions:

>

> 1. All or nothing thinking: See things in black and white

> categories. If your performance falls short of perfect, you see

> yourself as a total failure.

>

> 2. Overgeneralization: You see a single negative event as a never-

> ending pattern.

>

> 3. Mental filter: You pick out a single negative detail and dwell

> on it exclusiely, so that your vision of all reality becomes

> darkened.

>

> 4. Disqualifying the positive: You reject positive experiences by

> insisting they 'don't count' for some reason or other. This way,

> you can maintain a negative belief that is contradicted by your

> everyday experiences. (Note to KOs: this one might cause us to

> split as bad or useless anyone who is actually on our side or

> defends us, to write them off as wrong just as nada would have

done).

>

> 5. Jumping to conclusions: You make a negative interpretation

even

> though there are no definite facts that convincingly support your

> conclusion. (Mind reading: arbitrarily conclude that someone is

> responding negatively to you regardless of their actual behaviour;

> Fortune-teller: anticipate that things will turn out badly, which

> becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy).

>

> 6. Magnification/minimization: You exaggerrate the importance of

> things (such as a goof-up at work) or inapprpriately shrink good

> things until they appear tiny (such as your own desirable qualities

> or your opponent's imperfections). This is also called

> the 'binocular trick'.

>

> 7. Catastrophizing: You attribute extreme and horrible

> consequences to the outcome of events. A turndown for a date means

> utter isolation. Making a mistake at work means you will be fired

> and will never find another job. (Note to list: this is my worst

> one! Charlie)

>

> 8. Emotional reasoning: You assume that negative emotions reflect

> the way things are--I feel it so it must be true. (Charlie: this

> is my second worst one!

>

> 9. 'Should' statements: You try to motivate yourself

> with 'shoulds' and 'shouldn'ts', as if you need to be punished into

> doing anything. Must and ought are also offenders. The emotional

> consequence is guilt. Directing 'should' towards others also

causes

> anger, frustration and resentment. (Ex: you should do the dishes

> if you love me.)

>

> 10. Labeling and mislabeling: this is an extreme form of

> overgeneralization. Instead of describing your error, you attach a

> negative label to yourself. (I didn't do the dishes, so I am a

> loser.) When someone else's behaviour rubs you the wrong way, you

> split them all bad: 'he's a louse'. Mislabeling involves

> describing an event with highly colored, charged language.

>

> 11. Personalization: You see negative events as indicative of a

> negative characteristic in yourself and take responsibility for

> events that were not your doing.

>

..................