Nurse Audrey's Stress Relief

Your Stress Relief Minute

Welcome back to our discussion on the ten forms of distortional thought patterns as outlined by Dr. David Burns. Previously we mentioned that our beliefs, perceptions, and attitudes give rise to our interpretation of events. These interpretations in turn create negative emotions which can often lead to a distorted view of the event. The ten cognitive distortions form the basis of all negative emotions and ultimately the consequences they bring.

The previous two newsletters briefly covered five cognitive distortions which form the basis of our self-defeating emotions. The five cognitive distortions covered were: all-or-nothing thinking, overgeneralization, negative mental filter, disqualifying the positive, and jumping to conclusions. If you missed these newsletters, you will be able to find them in the archives.

Today we will define two more cognitive distortions.

6. Magnification and Minimization or Catastrophyzing

This type of person lives life by the “Murphy’s Law” mentality. “If anything can go wrong, it will go wrong, and it will be worse because that’s just my luck.” They remind me of Eyor from the children’s book Pooh Bear. He walked with his ears hanging down, continually worried that they may drop off. Meanwhile a dark cloud kept following him everywhere he went.

People with type of thinking tend to blow things up out of proportion by turning ordinary negative experiences into colossal disastrous ones. Or they go to the other extreme and minimize any personal success, labeling them as small and inconsequential. By magnifying the negative and minimizing the positive, they are guaranteed to arouse in themselves self-defeating emotions. Those who are healthy thinkers are able to place failures and successes in their proper perspective.

7. Emotional Reasoning

At one time or another, we have all made important decisions on how we felt. We allowed truth to be based upon our feelings. This kind of reasoning is misleading because our feelings reflect our thoughts and beliefs which are often distorted. Just because we feel inadequate, does not mean we are worthless. You have heard the saying, “He wears his feelings on his sleeve.” This type of a person is rather narcissistic. It is said “That a man wrapped up in himself makes a pretty small package.”

Unfortunately, this type of thinking can derail progress and fulfillment in our lives. We imagine and conjure up all types of scenarios that are not true, merely believing them without any solid evidence. We must not let our negative feelings guide the way we act, but instead we must separate our emotions from our overall self-worth.

To lighten your day:

A man discovered that he was shrinking. Each day he was getting smaller. Very worried, he went to the doctor’s office. “I’ve got to see the doctor!” the man demanded frantically. “He’s extremely busy!” the nurse calmly replied, “Just take a seat and be a little patient.”

A nervous man, accompanied by his nagging wife, was examined by the doctor. Studying the man’s chart, the doctor nodded to himself and wrote out a prescription for a powerful sedative. The man asked, “When do I take them?” The doctor said, they’re not for you; they’re for your wife.

Till next time… “Nurse Audrey” signing off!

Questions/Comments: audrey@possibilitiesnetwork.com
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