Anxiety

Self-defeating thoughts are negative thoughts that can lead to depression and anxiety. In his book, “Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy,” David Burns identifies the ten most common types of self-defeating thoughts.

Overgeneralization: Overgeneralizations occur when you generalize one experience to future experiences. For instance, if you get turned down for a job, you may think every other employer will turn you down for a job as well.

These kinds of thoughts can lead to feelings of hopelessness, anxiety, and depression. If you think every employer will turn you down for jobs you apply to, you may become anxious about how you will support yourself and/or your family. You may also begin to feel depressed because you feel you do not have the skills or abilities any employer would want.

Diminishing the Positive: When you diminish the positive, you turn positive events into negative ones. For example, if you get a B+ on a term paper you worked very hard on, you might beat yourself up for not getting an A. Another example is if you get a piece you’ve written accepted into Kittens USA, you may put yourself down for not getting the piece accepted into a larger, more well-known magazine like Cat Fancy.

Personalization: If you automatically assume something is your fault, even when it is not necessarily true, you are engaging in personalization. If, for instance, your boss snaps at you when you greet him, and you assume you’ve done something wrong, you are engaging in personalization.

Personalization can lead to a lot of anxiety. You could drive yourself crazy trying to figure out what you might have done wrong to upset your boss! The truth is, however, your boss may be upset about something that happened at home, he might be having a bad day, or he might have locked his keys in his car.

The Binocular Trick: Burns describes the binocular trick as having “special glasses” that allow you to see problems as much bigger than they really are. For instance, if you and your friend have a small disagreement, you may become afraid she will break off your friendship. Or, perhaps you get a C on a term paper in your psychology class, and you think you will fail the entire course as a result. Yet another example is if you have a bruise you don’t remember getting, and you think you might have cancer. The binocular trick can obviously lead to a lot of anxiety and despair.

Emotional Reasoning: This type of thinking occurs when you base your identity on your feelings. You feel worthless because you ARE worthless. You feel stupid because you ARE stupid. This type of thinking can quickly lead to depression.

These are five of the ten types of self-defeating thoughts Burns identifies in his book. Tomorrow, I will discuss the remaining half of the most common types of self-defeating thoughts. Additionally, please come back to visit later this week as I will also be discussing how to overcome these types of thoughts.

Do you engage in any of these types of self-defeating thought patterns? Which ones? Please tell me what you think in the comments section below!

Source:

Healthy Me: Ills & Conditions: Overcoming Negative Thinking by Chris Woolston

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