Cognitive restructuring is a psychotherapeutic method used to identify and address irrational or maladaptive thoughts, attitudes, and beliefs. Cognitive distortions can be common reactions to stressful events such as grief, trauma, or loss.
Many different types of cognitive distortion exist. Read on to learn more about how cognitive restructuring is used in therapy when it can be beneficial and some common types of “distortions” that might indicate the need for treatment.
What Is Cognitive Distortion?
“Cognitive distortion” is a term used in cognitive therapy for describing thoughts that inaccurately reflect reality. Typically, cognitive distortions involve exaggerated ideas or thoughts about one’s self and others that create a negative view of the world.
- All-or-Nothing Thinking: A situation is either entirely good or entirely bad.
- Overgeneralization: A past negative event is seen as a never-ending pattern of defeat.
- Mental Filter: One negative detail in a situation is scrutinized while ignoring everything positive.
- Disqualifying the Positives: Negative experiences are given more weight than positive ones, even when the positive experiences are much more numerous.
- Jumping to Conclusions: Making a negative interpretation of a situation without factual evidence.
- Fortune Telling: Predicting that things will turn out badly, usually based on insufficient or inaccurate information.
- Magnification (Catastrophizing) or Minimization: A situation is blown out of proportion or completely misrepresented based on one’s own wants and desires.
- Labeling: Attaching a negative label to oneself or others without factual evidence.
What Is Cognitive Restructuring?
Cognitive restructuring is a therapeutic tool used to correct these cognitive distortions. In cognitive restructuring, the therapist helps the client become aware of irrational or maladaptive thoughts and beliefs that may be holding them back from experiencing more positive emotions.
Through this awareness, the client learns how to apply reason to their own thought processes to let go of negative thoughts and replace them with more positive ones.
The client learns to identify the cognitive distortions that are present, assess how irrational or unrealistic they are, and learn new ways of thinking that promote healthier moods and behaviors.
Working with a skilled therapist is an important part of cognitive restructuring. A good therapist will make the person receiving treatment feel comfortable discussing their thoughts while maintaining a professional, therapeutic distance.