Challenging Cognitive Distortions: Strategies For Emotional Well-Being

Key Takeaways
What Are Thinking Traps?
Why Our Brains Trick Us
Distorted Thoughts’ Real Impact
Unmasking Common Cognitive Distortions
Your Path to Clearer Thinking
Fresh Angles on Distortion Correction
Why You Shouldn’t Go It Alone
Conclusion
Frequently Asked Questions

Key Takeaways

Cognitive distortions, or thinking traps, can distort your view of the world, affect your mental wellbeing, and affect how you function every day if not addressed.
Identifying and correcting frequent distortions such as black-and-white thinking, overgeneralization, and negative filtering is an important first step to more accurate thoughts.
Common daily stressors in American life—including workplace expectations, media messages, and family interactions—can all lead to these negative thought cycles.
Correcting cognitive distortions requires a level of self-awareness, the ability to challenge those negative beliefs, and the implementation of practical strategies such as journaling or Socratic questioning.
Innovative approaches and digital tools can help with cognitive restructuring. This extends to mental health apps and alternative therapies if used with intention and care.
Accessing expert support and establishing an encouraging community increase resilience as well as future mental health.

Cognitive distortion correction will teach you how to identify and address negative thinking patterns. These patterns regularly contort how we view reality or what’s going on.

These cognitive distortions, such as black-and-white thinking and jumping to conclusions, can create anxiety or negative assumptions. Americans are putting these measurable steps to work in reforming their habits.

They journal, discuss things with mental health professionals, and use basic self-check tools. It’s no wonder that millions of Americans turn to cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT.

It has deep roots here and is strongly supported by research by leading American health organizations. Adjusting these cognitive distortions allows people to make better decisions, reduce anxiety, and gain a better perspective on their lives.

The second section explains the most frequent distortions and provides practical strategies to combat them that you can implement immediately.

What Are Thinking Traps?

Thinking traps—what psychologists refer to as cognitive distortions—are just one of the ways our minds trick us into viewing the world with a warped lens. These traps change how we see the world. They frequently result in biased or pessimistic conclusions that just aren’t true.

Without intervention, thinking traps have the potential to worsen stress and emotional distress, even contributing to larger conditions such as depression. Generally, these patterns begin with automatic thoughts—those knee jerk reactions or first impressions racing through our heads. Recognizing these negative thought patterns is the first step to stopping the cycle and developing a more positive attitude.

Defining Cognitive Distortions Simply

Cognitive distortions are mental patterns that lead us away from reality. They can illuminate our self-identity and beliefs about the world around us. For example, overgeneralization is when you take one failure and decide “nothing ever works out.

Labeling is what we do when we attack ourselves or other people with name-calling after a one-off error. Catastrophizing makes a minor misstep into a major catastrophe. There’s pressure behind should statements, commandments with the power to make you feel like “I should never mess up.

These psychological pitfalls can enter everyday life without us realizing it. It is crucial that you learn to identify them because more often than not, they lead us astray.

My Take: Why We All Fall for Them

The good news is that we’re all wired to fall into thinking traps only some of the time. Second, our brains absolutely adore shortcuts! They are influenced by historical context, emotional trauma, and the societal urge to perform above and beyond.

When life gets stressful or emotions are elevated, these traps can feel very real. Social media, workplace pressure, and family life or disappointment can all trigger these traps. Self-reflection is an important tool to identify the places we are most susceptible.

Common Triggers in American Life

In the U.S., these traps are at risk of being exacerbated by media pressure, job demands, and family roles. News cycles, comparison culture, and high expectations are all factors that stoke the flames of automatic negative thoughts.

Work deadlines, family strain, or even daily commutes can increase stress, which creates fertile ground for distorted thinking. Building awareness and using techniques such as cognitive restructuring can start to change these tendencies.

Why Our Brains Trick Us

Our brains are wired to protect us from harm, but the system isn’t always ideally suited for modern life. Cognitive distortions are not just unhealthy thought patterns; they have biological underpinnings molded by millennia of biological evolution. At their root, these flawed patterns are usually a result of our brains doing exactly what they evolved to do — keep us alive.

Knowing why these patterns occur helps us better understand how to identify and shift them.

Survival Instincts Gone Wrong

In the distant past, hyper instincts protected humans from physical danger. Now these same instincts make relatively harmless or even helpful things a major source of anxiety. For instance, you might immediately start to catastrophize and say to yourself, “I’ll never succeed at my job” after making one mistake.

This is an egregious oversimplification. The brain fights back with instant, knee-jerk thoughts, usually blowing dangers out of proportion. Recognizing this automatic reaction is just the beginning.

The good news is that individuals can pump the brakes, fact check, and make an effort to rewire their instincts. With practice, it trains your mind to transform those outdated survival instincts into more productive thought patterns.

We all have a tendency to focus on negative news over positive. This is known as negativity bias, and it is universally shared. It can impact the way policies are adopted, or how individuals perceive their own self-worth.

For example, after one bad night’s sleep, one may think that they are a bad sleeper. Just knowing about this bias gives humans the ability to right the ship. They consciously look for upsides or at least minor victories.

How Stress and Life Events Fuel Them

Big life changes or stress heighten distorted thoughts. Lost jobs, breakups, or health scares can cause brains to leap to worst-case scenarios. Not surprisingly, stress similarly activates memories associated with intense emotions.

People can relearn how to cope by building resilience, engaging in self-care, and having conversations to help them make sense of difficult periods.

Mental Health and Distorted Views

Impacts of mental health on distorted thinking are significant. Mental health issues further amplify these distorted thoughts. When in the throes of depression or anxiety, it’s very easy for brains to jump to conclusions or overgeneralize.

Receiving support, in the form of a therapist or support group, is critical. Fostering mental health can lead to clearer, less distorted thinking and can begin to halt the cycle of negative patterns.

Distorted Thoughts’ Real Impact

Distorted thoughts don’t just go away—they creep into everyday life, influencing how individuals perceive themselves, those around them, and the world as a whole. These behaviors might feel benign on the surface, but studies have found that they frequently result in increased stress, anxiety, and even depression.

In reality, distorted thoughts like all-or-nothing thinking will be your worst enemy. To exaggerate the impact of failures and challenges makes it all the more difficult to recover from adversity! Left unchecked, these distorted thoughts can profoundly alter a person’s behavior, emotions, and relationships.

How They Cloud Your Judgment

Cognitive distortions are insidious and can easily derail honest, clear-headed thinking. They cloud your judgment by misleading your brain into perceiving only the worst-case consequences or failing to recognize the positive aspects of any situation.

An individual may feel like a single work error determines their success or lack thereof. That fear of failure can lead them to avoid taking on new challenges and forgo opportunities for advancement.

At home, misinterpreting a friend’s text as aggressive could trigger unnecessary drama. In time, these patterns distort judgment at work and in home life—especially when driving, as many of us know from experience.

Though distorted thoughts can lead to dangerous misjudgments, building habits such as fact-checking one’s thoughts and talking things out with others can help keep thinking on track.

The Toll on Your Emotional Health

Chronic, real-world distorted thoughts can take a serious toll on emotional health. Individuals who struggle with chronic distorted thoughts often find themselves experiencing increased anxiety, depression, and other psychosomatic issues such as migraines or stomach aches.

Research has demonstrated that these patterns are strongly associated with anxiety and depression. Challenging these distorted thoughts—sometimes with the help of cognitive-behavioral therapy—can improve mood and reduce anxiety.

Identifying emotional triggers and practicing the habit of slowing down your reaction will go a long way in maintaining emotional balance.

Everyday Decisions Gone Awry

Distorted thinking frequently results in decisions that run counter to an individual’s best interests. For example, someone may avoid social gatherings after one embarrassing interaction.

They might think that just because they hit a small roadblock, that all future attempts will be unsuccessful. These decisions may be seemingly small, but they compound to impact sense of self and feelings from day to day.

Mindfulness—paying close attention to one’s thoughts and feelings—can make it easier for folks to recognize when their thinking has started to drift.

Long-Term Effects if Unchecked

If left unaddressed, chronic stress and lowered self-esteem can develop over time. This could lead to more severe mental health conditions or exacerbate pre-existing disorders.

Research has illustrated that these patterns are capable of predicting future depressive episodes. Taking action early, such as understanding these distortions and seeking assistance, can prevent issues from escalating.

Just a few easy steps—taking stock of problematic thoughts, working through them with a therapist—can go a long way.

Unmasking Common Cognitive Distortions

Cognitive distortions are tricky thought patterns that can creep into everyday life unnoticed. They frequently influence how we view the world around us, our friends and family, and most importantly, ourselves. These patterns aren’t unusual eccentricities—they’re cognitive distortions that are normal habits of mind, that we all fall prey to, particularly when we’re stressed out.

Understanding these distortions is key. Once people identify what they are, where they manifest, and how to recognize them, they have the opportunity to shift their thinking and foster more positive mental health. These patterns of thinking can start as survival mechanisms. If allowed to fester, these can lead to increased symptoms of anxiety and depression and even influence someone’s perception of their own value.

Once you know how to identify them, you can begin developing a healthier mindset.

1. All-or-Nothing Thinking Pitfall

All-or-nothing thinking, known as “black-and-white” thinking, is when you view everything in absolutes. There’s no place for shades of grey. You’re either a raging success or abject failure, no middle ground.

If a new project at work goes awry, they may believe, “I’m awful at my job.” Or they dismiss it as a temporary, one-off problem. It’s like death by a thousand paper cuts on your self-worth. It turns small bumps in the road into mountains and cancels out all your progress.

The unfortunate truth is that the real world is not black and white. Rather than getting swept away by all or nothing thinking, it’s useful to seek out the shades of gray. For instance, maybe you had a tough meeting, but the rest of your week was going great.

Practice identifying and labeling those gray areas, which provides a more realistic perspective and can start to subdue cruel self-criticisms.

2. Jumping to (Wrong) Conclusions

This distortion manifests itself when we draw conclusions too quickly, or without sufficient evidence. It often takes two forms: mind reading (“She must be mad at me because she didn’t say hi”) and fortune-telling (“I just know this meeting will go badly”).

These leaps can be damaging to relationships and can break down trust. When a person is jumping to conclusions, they are operating on emotion rather than reality and creating a mountain out of a molehill. Instead, a little pause goes a long way.

Don’t jump to conclusions or make assumptions about what someone is doing or why they are doing it. Try asking clarifying questions, identifying objective facts, or even just taking a breath before responding. Over time, this develops patterns of prudent, impartial thought.

3. The Heavy Weight of “Shoulds”

Should” statements sound like self-imposed rules: “I should always be productive” or “I should never make mistakes.” These types of statements are shaming and put individuals at a higher risk of failure.

When the expectations are set so high that they’re impossible, even a tiny misstep makes it seem like you’ve failed. When “shoulds” run your life, it’s nearly impossible to allow yourself to be human. Every time you would use “should,” if you say “could” or “might” instead, it opens possibilities.

For instance, “I can aim to accomplish more today” opens space for intention without self-shaming. When life doesn’t unfold in line with our expectations, it’s important to practice self-compassion. Give yourself grace. Everyone fumbles. Rather than beating yourself up, identify what you can, learn from it, and move on.

4. Personalization and The Blame Game

Personalization is when we blame ourselves for events we had no influence over. A person might blame themselves and believe, “It’s my fault the team didn’t meet the deadline,” despite the possibility that external factors played a role.

This cycle of distortion only serves to create feelings of guilt, shame, and a skewed perception of reality. Personalizing every misstep takes your focus off the larger context and leaves you feeling miserable whenever you stumble.

What role did I truly play in this? What was beyond my control?” This can be particularly helpful when you’re struggling to distinguish between the two. This type of cognitive restructuring helps us move out of catastrophizing and considering worst case scenarios.

It lessens misplaced self-blame and leads to a more realistic understanding of your contribution.

5. Magnifying Flaws, Minimizing Wins

It’s the sad reality that we can all identify our faults almost immediately, while failing to recognize our strengths. This is the magnifying flaws-minimizing wins distortion, where you zero in on weaknesses and dismiss accomplishments.

If a person receives nine positive reviews and one negative review, they will ruminate on that one critique and dismiss the compliments. This pattern of thinking can really drain your motivation and affect the way you perceive yourself.

To combat it, maintain a list of personal victories—a completed project, a compliment, an issue you addressed. In time, this practice begins to rewire your brain, recalibrating what you focus on and proving that successes are equally as important as shortcomings.

6. The Danger of Unfair Labels

That’s because labels have a tendency to linger. Labeling yourself “a failure” or another person “lazy” robs people of their multifaceted identity. These punitive labels stifle development and create self-fulfilling prophecies.

So, for example, when a student believes, “I’m just not a math person,” they stop trying in class. As a consequence, they lose out on priceless opportunities to do better. Names and labels don’t just distort how we view ourselves—they distort how we view one another, opening the door to prejudicial perceptions.

To counteract this, remember to attack the policy, not the person. Replace “I’m terrible at this” with “I didn’t do well on this assignment, but I’m capable of improving.” Through this change, we are able to reframe our perceptions of ourselves and those around us.

7. When Feelings Become “Facts”

This is an understandable mistake because it’s easy to take powerful emotions as proof. A person could believe, “I’m feeling nervous, therefore something is not OK.” Feelings are often not the best indicators of reality.

When feelings take charge, they may cause us to jump to conclusions or overreact. The trick is to recognize when this is happening and intervene by asking, “Is this feeling a fact or just a feeling?” Journaling thoughts and weighing them against the facts makes it easier to identify the difference.

With some critical thinking, we can sever the connection between our emotional states and our convictions and make more sound, rational judgments.

8. Mental Filter: Seeing Only Bad

Mental filtering is when you only look at the negative aspects of a situation and disregard the positive. A student may focus on one low grade while completely overlooking all the high ones. This pattern of thinking causes mistakes to take center stage while erasing the victories from view.

To defeat the filter, start each day by writing down at least one good thing that happened, even if it’s something tiny. This practice further trains the mind to notice the positive, rather than only the negative. It offers a better path toward an accurate sense of reality.

9. Discounting the Positives You Earn

Even when they do accomplish something, this distortion has them discounting it. Statements like “anyone could have done it” or “it wasn’t that big of a deal” are often signs of discounting the positives.

In the long run, this mindset destroys self-esteem and prevents you from being proud. To change this tendency, acknowledge every success, no matter how major or minor. Consider maintaining a journal of positive aspects, listing things that went right or good attempts.

This creates a practice of noticing and appreciating the positive in life.

10. Overgeneralizing from One Setback

Overgeneralizing is when you take one or two instances and apply a broad brush to them. Once a student loses one battle, they may think they can never win the war. This cognitive distortion can trap individuals in harmful mindsets and stunt their development.

Instead, seek out counterexamples—instances when things turned out better. Remember that one failure does not determine a student’s talent or destiny. Utilizing a thought record can assist you in identifying and disputing these broad indicators.

This cognitive restructuring technique, rooted in cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), can lead you down a path of clearer perspective.

Your Path to Clearer Thinking

Clearer thinking begins with a better understanding of how ideas influence feelings and behavior. In fact, one in five adults in the United States experiences anxiety or depression. Cognitive distortions—those patterns of thinking that warp the truth—can compound these difficulties.

They come to roost in everyday life as inflexible mandates, punitive self-criticism, or catastrophizing. Identifying and addressing these patterns is the first step toward reclaiming your mental health. It’s no secret that this process is made possible by consistent effort, reflection, and open-mindedness to new perspectives.

The following four steps outline how to identify, dispute, and reframe catastrophizing to cultivate a healthier, more robust psyche.

Spot Your Unique Thought Patterns

The best first step is learning how to spot your own thinking patterns. These patterns can be pretty much on autopilot—snap assumptions you jump to around yourself or the universe. Self-monitoring involves regular reflection on your thought life and ideas, daily or weekly.

Basic tools such as a notebook or mood-tracking application can make it easier to notice patterns in when and how these thoughts arise. For example, writing down your instinctual reaction after a difficult meeting can be enlightening. It can unearth an all-or-nothing mindset, such as, “I never do well when I present.

Once you begin to track consistently, patterns begin to emerge. Perhaps you find that you overgeneralize following an unfortunate outcome or you jump to the worst-case scenario when something doesn’t go as planned. Journaling is an especially effective medium for this practice. By recording what occurred, what you were thinking at the time, and how you were feeling, you can reveal thought patterns you may not have previously noticed.

Challenge and Reframe Beliefs

Once you identify these patterns, the next step is to reframe them. Challenge and Reframe Beliefs Test your assumption against the evidence. So, for instance, if you find yourself writing off an attempt with the thought, “I didn’t succeed this time, so I’ll never do it,” reframe that negativity.

What’s the proof that you’ve done this successfully in the past? Challenge and Reframe Beliefs Turn a negative into a positive. Reframing unhelpful thoughts involves finding a more realistic perspective. If an idea sounds judgmental, extreme, or dogmatic, make it more flexible.

Replace “I never do anything well” with “I didn’t have the best day today, but I know I am a good driver.” This is where evidence-based thinking proves useful. Challenge and Reframe Beliefs Seek evidence prior to accepting something to be true. Take this to real life by stopping and checking yourself whenever you find yourself getting upset or angry at something.

Embrace Real Mindset Transformation

Embrace real mindset transformation. Change is not an event or a program. It’s about creating a practice of approaching challenges as opportunities to develop. Adopting a growth mindset means believing that skills and abilities can change with effort.

This perspective allows you to proactively address obstacles and recover from failures. Research-based strategies such as establishing small, achievable objectives and teaching students to learn from criticism foster resilience. The more you develop flexibility in your thinking, the better equipped you are to roll with punches when life throws curveballs.

In the long term, these changes lay the foundation for resilient mental well-being. A positive, realistic attitude reduces anxiety and allows you to respond with poise when faced with challenges. Whether it’s learning from a book, an online course, or just through self-analysis—continuous education leaves your mind agile and receptive.

Restructure Thoughts: A How-To

Cognitive restructuring is a 4-step process to help transform unhelpful thoughts into more positive, productive ones. Begin by identifying a thought that causes you anxiety or depression. Then, identify the stimulus—what occurred right before you had the thought.

Question whether the thought is grounded in reality or influenced by outdated schema. Capture the negative thought, the proof for that thinking and against that thinking, and a more realistic, less emotionally charged idea. For example, after a tense call, you might write: “They sounded annoyed—maybe I did something wrong.

After reviewing, you might revise it to: “They were short, but it could be due to a busy day.” Keep this up regularly, even when you aren’t feeling pressure, so you can create the new thinking patterns.

Use Socratic Questioning Wisely

Socratic questioning is a powerful tool for getting to the root of ideas. It employs a series of open-ended questions to help you examine your assumptions. Questions such as, “What evidence do I have for this idea?” inspire inquiry.

Start with the question, “What’s another perspective I could take?” to challenge black-and-white thinking. For instance, if you find yourself believing, “I can trust no one,” consider, “What is a situation where someone has shown me I could trust them?

This process not only results in a sharper picture of the issue at hand, but it exposes flawed logic. For one, habitually employing these questions clarifies your own thinking and makes you more capable of detecting an opponent’s gaps in logic.

Overcome Common Correction Hurdles

Overcome Common Correction Hurdles. Correcting cognitive distortions is not without its challenges. Your Challenging Change Change is difficult, old habits are tough to bust, and imperfection is the human experience.

It can be tempting to revert to pessimistic thoughts, even when you know better—especially under pressure. Overcome Common Correction Hurdles Common barriers like second-guessing, time constraints, and overwhelm can be addressed.

To overcome these, focus on smaller steps of each task and reward small victories. Finally, remind yourself that change takes time. When the going gets rough, be sure to ask for guidance. A mental health navigator or support community will help you stay focused! Through hard work and never-ending encouragement, they won.

Track Your Progress Effectively

Track your progress effectively. Tracking your progress is one of the most important things you can do. Engage Record thoughts and moods with tracking sheets, apps, or a journal to develop a baseline over the course of weeks and months.

Make them specific and achievable, such as identifying one cognitive distortion each day or doing reframing exercises three times per week. Read through your notes often to track areas where you’ve made progress and topics you’re still struggling on.

Whether progress is huge or minuscule, marking it in some way helps maintain momentum. Reminding yourself of what’s worked—such as less hostile reactivity to stress—reassures you that change still can happen and that it’s worth the effort.

Fresh Angles on Distortion Correction

Mending cognitive distortions isn’t merely an intellectual exercise—it’s about discovering practical solutions. Most people are aware that cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) works to challenge and change unhelpful thinking. There are other ways to reach that destination, and they don’t all need to be one-size-fits-all.

Fresh strategies can equip individuals to swap out harmful perspectives for healthier, more nuanced ones.

Creative Correction Methods Beyond Talk

Talk therapy isn’t the only option. Art and movement provide participants a non-verbal opportunity to process complex ideas, feelings, and experiences. Drawing, painting, or even structured journaling can assist in unpacking complicated emotions.

For instance, someone could make an art collage to address a tendency toward black and white thinking. Next, they can go through and cut out images that represent different emotions or feelings. Whether it’s dancing or mindful walking, letting go of crossed wires can open our minds to further inspiration.

These kinds of exercises allow participants to engage with ideas in ways that are organic and individual.

Tech for Sharper Mental Fitness

Technology tools can enhance mental fitness, as well. Whether it’s an app for mood tracking, guided mindfulness, or thought records, these tools have supported folks in identifying and challenging distortions such as mislabeling or overgeneralizing.

Some apps go so far as to employ reminders to encourage users to stop, take a step back, and challenge those default assumptions. With screens around every corner, it’s wise to be cautious. Not all alerts are useful, and making everything high-tech can replace innovation with irritation.

Culture’s Influence on Thought Habits

Culture deeply influences the mental habits and artistic practices of individuals and communities. Like many of us, in other areas of the country, culture forces black-or-white constructs or judgments from one misstep.

Just knowing this is the case empowers folks to question trends that don’t align with their own experience. Having these conversations about cultural influences in therapy or with friends can help you locate where distortions originate from.

Personalize Your Correction Strategy

Just like no two people learn the same way. Just because something works for one person doesn’t mean it’s going to work for everyone else. Tailoring strategies—such as blending discussion, creativity, and technology—makes a difference.

Taking an experimental approach, developing and refining a strategy on the fly is always more effective.

Ethical Tech Use in Mind Health

Engaging with tech for mental health purposes requires serious contemplation of privacy and security. Mental health apps must prioritize the data they collect and be transparent about their practices.

It’s just common sense to read policies before sharing personal information and choose tools that prioritize people over profit.

Why You Shouldn’t Go It Alone

It’s hard to challenge cognitive distortions when you’re going it alone. When intense emotions take over, critical thinking can be a challenge, which can leave little room for taking a pause to identify bad logic. Many people in Los Angeles, and all over the U.S., find that sharing their experiences or getting help makes a real difference.

Having an external party listen can help identify when you’re succumbing to cognitive traps such as all-or-nothing thinking or overgeneralization. This allows you to take a step back, focus on the long game, and avoid becoming trapped in a cycle of intense emotion or despair.

The Value of Professional Guidance

Therapists and counselors offer targeted professional knowledge and experience. Experienced professionals recognize the motivations behind such manipulations such as pre-labeling or post-labeling. They’re hands on, utilizing evidence-based approaches like cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to address these root causes.

They tend to recommend concrete actions. For instance, having clients rate their negative emotions on a scale of 1 to 100 allows them to understand that few things in life are as catastrophic as they seem. For anyone who has a hard time with chronic bad logic, third-party assistance translates into greater regularity and continued oversight.

Build Your Personal Support System

Your friends, family, and/or peer group can be the first to identify when you’re trapped in overgeneralization or destructive self-talk. An effective support system provides a space to be heard without shame or judgment. It provides fresh perspectives too, when you’re unable to look beyond one stinky day.

The key to making these relationships consistent and supportive are open conversations, regular check-ins, and transparent feedback.

Combine Correction with Other Treatments

It’s clear that when correction is used in conjunction with other therapies, such as mindfulness-based or behavioral approaches, improved results follow. Holistic approaches—combining talk therapy, mindfulness meditation, and structured daily activities—provide patients with a wider range of tools and more freedom and flexibility.

Finding Culturally Competent Support

Cultural background affects our perspective and approach to stress. Finding therapists who relate to and respect your experiences, values, priorities, and needs can help you feel more comfortable.

Inquire about a provider’s training and experience, and communicate your priorities upfront and directly.

Conclusion

In order to identify and challenge these cognitive distortions, it pays to get straight and get smart. Simple actions—whether it’s journaling your feelings or having a conversation with a friend—can lead to a profound change. Angelenos are all too familiar with how quickly stress can add up. Which is why it’s worth your time to learn to identify and overcome these mental tricks. Imagine how much more productive work, school, and home life can be without all those psychological games played in the background. No one has to deal with cognitive distortions by themselves. Quality assistance is available, and discussing mental health is not taboo. Be inquisitive, be patient, and feel free to contact us if you run into any challenges. Have a question or want to share your own experiences? We’d love to hear from you—shoot us a note and continue the conversation.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are cognitive distortions?

Cognitive distortions are harmful, negative, and biased ways of thinking that distort the truth. They do this by convincing you to perceive situations in an overly negative way, which can cause feelings of stress, anxiety, and low self-esteem.

How can I spot thinking traps in my daily life?

Watch out for these cognitive distortions—such as “black or white” thinking, mind-reading, or personalizing events beyond your control. Writing down your thought process makes it easier to identify these traps.

Why do our brains create cognitive distortions?

To protect us, our brains look for ways to simplify complex situations. At times, this can manifest as cognitive distortions, particularly during periods of stress or anxiety.

What’s the impact of cognitive distortions on mental health?

Cognitive distortions are known to heighten anxiety and depression and decrease problem-solving ability. In the long run, they can take a serious toll on your relationships and quality of life.

How can I start correcting distorted thoughts?

How can I start correcting distorted thoughts? Consider whether there is any evidence whatsoever. Don’t buy into your own narratives, challenge your assumptions, and push yourself to view situations from a new perspective.

Are there professional resources in Los Angeles for cognitive distortion correction?

Yes, Los Angeles has many licensed therapists and mental health clinics specializing in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), which targets and corrects cognitive distortions.

Should I try to fix cognitive distortions on my own?

While it’s great to work on these things independently, a trained mental health professional can lead you through these exercises and teach you tried-and-true techniques. Don’t be afraid to ask for help to make your effort more successful.