Cognitive distortions

Assuming you know what someone else is thinking, without evidence. The guess is usually negative, and gets treated as fact.

“They didn’t reply — they’re obviously annoyed with me.”

Neither quite fits? Describe your own situation →

Starting from a small problem and following it to the worst possible outcome, then reacting as if that outcome has already arrived.

“If this goes badly, everything falls apart.”

Neither quite fits? Describe your own situation →

Predicting that something will go badly, and treating the prediction as certain enough to act on — often by avoiding the thing entirely.

“I already know it won’t work out.”

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Seeing things in two categories — perfect or failure, always or never — with nothing in between.

“If it’s not exactly right, I’ve failed.”

Neither quite fits? Describe your own situation →

Holding yourself to a list of rules about how you ought to think, feel, or behave — and reading any gap as a personal failing.

“I should be coping better than this.”

Neither quite fits? Describe your own situation →

Turning one event into a verdict on the whole of you. A mistake becomes “I’m useless”; one awkward moment becomes “I’m boring”.

“That’s just who I am.”

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Taking responsibility for things that aren’t fully in your control, and reading neutral events as being about you.

“They cancelled — I must have done something.”

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Treating one instance as a never-ending pattern. A single setback becomes proof of how things always go.

“Nothing ever works out for me.”

Recognise it? Describe your own situation →

Treating a feeling as evidence. Because something feels true, it must be true.

“I feel like a burden, so I must be one.”

Recognise it? Describe your own situation →