101 Essays That Will Change The Way You Think

types of 
DISTORTED 
THINKING
To think well is to think objectively and factually. The human brain is
wired to affirm itself; we are programmed to find evidence that
supports what we most want to believe. Unless our subconscious is
clear, it’s how we create our most compelling convictions. If we were
raised believing we are social outcasts, we’re always seeking out
evidence that we are, in fact, disliked by peers.
Like most things, distorted thinking tends to happen in patterns. We
aren’t alone in the things that most deeply plague or fascinate or
panic us, and in fact, you’ll probably find comfort in the fact that there
are terms for them. In 1981, Dr. Matthew McKay, Dr. Martha Davis,
and Patrick Fanning outlined exactly what these are
17
and how they
tend to manifest.
Here, 17 of the most prominent types of distorted thinking:
01. Filtering. Filtering is choosing to have a selectively informed
perspective. It is to take the negative details of a situation and
magnify them while filtering the positive aspects out. Picking
out a single detail and coloring entire events by it isolates
“good” and “bad” experiences from one another, and
therefore, they become larger and more awful (or better) than
they are in reality.
02. Polarization. The hallmark of distortion is a hyper-reliance on
dichotomies. Things are either good or bad, right or wrong,
and no in-between. It is to perceive everything within
extremes and be closed to a middle ground. This tends to
manifest most strongly in self-perceptions: You’re either
perfect or you’re a failure.

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03. Overgeneralization. You come to conclusions based on a
single piece of evidence or a single experience. If something
bad happens once, out of fear that it will happen again, you
expect it so you can “prepare” for it. The language this kind of
thinking usually entails is the use of “always” or “never” to
illustrate a problem. This kind of distortion can lead to a
restricted life, as you avoid experiences because you gauge
failure on a single event or instance.
04. Mind-reading. You assume to know what people are feeling
and why they act the way they do, especially when it comes
to how they feel about you. This is usually due to your own
projections and biases. You can only comprehend that people
feel the way you would and respond the way you do to certain
situations, simply because you aren’t familiar with anything
else.
05. Catastrophizing. You always assume that the absolute worst
will happen. It is to take random circumstances and to
imagine they are indicative of the most disastrous outcome. It
is a symptom of not trusting oneself and not believing you
have the capacity to adapt to change. If you imagine the
worst is always happening, nothing can shock or surprise
you.
06. Personalization. You interpret everything that happens within
the context of how it affects and applies to you. You think that
everything people say or do or infer is for or against you. It is
the inability to realize that a world exists outside of how you
engage with it. Other symptoms are trying to compare
yourself to others, as though someone else’s intelligence or
attractiveness means something about your own. The basic
thinking error is that you interpret each experience, each
conversation, each look as a clue to your worth and value.
07. Control fallacies. There are two ways control fallacies work:
Either you feel externally controlled (you see yourself as
helpless or a victim of fate) or you feel internally controlled,
which means you think of yourself as responsible for the pain
and happiness of everyone around you. Both are usually

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symptomatic of not taking control of your life in a healthy,
productive way.
08. Fallacy of fairness. You believe that you know what’s fair,
right, and just, and that the only problem is other people don’t
agree with you. You do not understand that truths can coexist,
and by virtue of seeing your own opinions as valid
(experience has proved them to be), you assume they are
valid for everyone else as well, and if they would only adopt
them, their problems would be solved.
09. Blaming. The sister issue of projection. When you blame, you
hold everyone and everything responsible for your pain. On
the flip side, you blame yourself for every problem that comes
up. Regardless, it’s a distorted way of holding someone or
something accountable for an issue.
10. Shoulds. You have a list of rules about what people should
and shouldn’t do that you grew up believing were
unquestionably true. These were imposed on you through
culture, family, religion, schooling, etc. People who break
these rules anger you, and you do everything to avoid doing
so yourself. Because you believe the rules are indisputable,
you put yourself in the position of being able to judge and find
fault in everyone else around you.
11. Emotional reasoning. You believe that what you feel must be
true, without evaluating it at all. If you feel bored, unloved,
unintelligent, unsuccessful—even momentarily—you assume
it’s true just because you have felt it. A lot of internal conflict
arises out of the inability to reconcile our emotions with our
thinking processes.
12. Fallacy of change. You expect that other people can change
and that they must, because your hopes for happiness
depend on it. This leads to you putting a lot of pressure on
people, when in reality, you are simply corroding your
relationship with them. The underlying assumption of this
thinking style is that your happiness depends on the actions

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of others. Your happiness actually depends on the thousands
of large and small choices you make in your life.
13. Global labeling. You generalize one or two qualities that you
see in your immediate social circle as being a judgment about
all of humanity. Global labeling creates a world that’s
stereotypical and one-dimensional. Labeling yourself in such
a way is an impediment to self-esteem; labeling others in
such a way results in relationship problems and prejudice.
14. Being right. You feel as though you are always on trial to
prove that your opinions, actions, and choices are correct, or
at least, more correct than an alternative. Being wrong is
associated with being “bad” or unworthy. Your need to be
right often results in closed-mindedness, as defensiveness
does not leave room to consider another idea, perhaps one
that is more informed than your own.
15. Heaven’s reward fallacy. You imagine that someone is
keeping score of all the wrong and right doings in your life.
You expect that your sacrifice, good-doing, or self-denial will
pay off, even if there is no clear, logical way that it will. You
are constantly doing the “right thing,” even if you don’t feel
like it. This leads to feeling physically and emotionally
depleted, because there is no actual reward in the sacrifice
and denial.
17 Davis, Martha; Fanning, Patrick; McKay, Matthew. “Thoughts and Feelings: Taking
Control of Your Moods and Your Life.” 2011.