1 all or nothing thinking – looking at ourselves in black and
white categories because we see ourselves as total losers
2 overgeneralization – we may have made a mistake or had
some back luck but we generalize to our entire being
3 mental filter – we dwell on the bad event and let it
discolor our entire view of life, a little like the drop of ink that discolors
a glass of water
4 discount the positives – we overlook our many good qualities
5 jumping to conclusions - we generalize from one or two
qualities or events into a negative global judgment; if we have one bad
interaction with someone in a department, we tell others that the whole
department is "a bunch of jerks"
6 magnification – we blow the event out of proportion
7 emotional reasoning – we FEEL like a born loser so we
believe we really are one!
8 shoulds – we have a list of ironclad rules
about how we and other people should act; people who break the rules make us
angry and we feel guilty if we violate those rules (we frequently call this
integrity). We may, for example, have the belief that we should always be
successful at things and never
fail; we may also believe that if we are good and try hard, then life should
always go smoothly
9 labelling – we label ourselves as a born loser instead
of trying to learn from the situation or thinking about the best way to
overcome it
10 blame – we automatically hold other people
responsible for our pain or take the other take and blame ourselves entirely
for every problem or reversal, when the event (such as a redundancy) might be
happening to many others
11 mind
reading - without their
saying so, we know what people are feeling and why they act the way they do; in
particular, we are able to divine how people are feeling toward us; we think
that our assumptions about what others are thinking are true.
12 catastrophizing - we expect disaster. We notice or
hear about a problem and start 'what-ifs'. What if tragedy strikes? What if it
happens to me? We immediately assume the worst possible outcome; this is our
style.
13 personalizing - we think that everything people do
or say is some kind of reaction to us; we compare ourselves to others, try to
determine who's smarter or better looking; we tend to relate everything around
you to ourselves.
