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Learn the meaning of distortion as a noun in English, with examples of different types of distortion in meaning, shape and sound. Find out how to use distortion in a sentence and see related words and phrases.
Learn the meaning of distortion as the act of twisting or altering something out of its true, natural, or original state. See synonyms, examples, word history, and related entries for distortion.
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Learn the meaning of distort as a verb and a noun, with synonyms, antonyms, and usage examples. Distort can mean to change the shape, meaning, or sound of something, or to affect something negatively.
distortion: 1 n a shape resulting from distortion Synonyms: distorted shape Types: contortion , crookedness , torsion , tortuosity , tortuousness a tortuous and twisted shape or position buckle , warp a shape distorted by twisting or folding gnarl , knot something twisted and tight and swollen Type of: form , shape the spatial arrangement of ...
- Overview
- All-or-Nothing Thinking
- Overgeneralization
- Mental Filters
- Discounting the Positive
- Jumping to Conclusions
- Magnification
- Emotional Reasoning
- "Should" Statements
- Labeling
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Cognitive distortions are negative or irrational patterns of thinking. These negative thought patterns can play a role in diminishing your motivation, lowering your self-esteem, and contributing to problems like anxiety, depression, and substance use.
This article discusses different cognitive distortions and how they work. It also discusses hypothetical examples to show how this kind of thinking affects behavior and what you can do to help overcome these distortions.
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All-or-nothing thinking is also known as black-and-white thinking or polarized thinking. This type of thinking involves viewing things in absolute terms: Situations are always black or white, everything or nothing, good or bad, success or failure.
An example of all-or-nothing thinking is dwelling on mistakes and assuming you will never be able to do well, instead of acknowledging the error and trying to move past it.
One way to overtime this cognitive distortion is to recognize that success and progress are not all-or-nothing concepts. By addressing this type of thinking and replacing self-defeating thoughts, you can feel better about your progress and recognize your strengths.
How to Stop Catastrophizing and Jumping to the Worst-Case Scenario
Overgeneralization happens when you make a rule after a single event or a series of coincidences. The words "always" or "never" frequently appear in the sentence. Because you have experience with one event playing out a certain way, you assume that all future events will have the same outcome.
For example, imagine that you made a suggestion about a work project that wasn't adopted in the final work. You might overgeneralize this and assume that no one at work ever listens to you or takes you seriously.
A mental filter is the opposite of overgeneralization, but with the same negative outcome. Instead of taking one small event and generalizing it inappropriately, the mental filter takes one small event and focuses on it exclusively, filtering out anything else.
For example, Nathan focuses on all of the negative or hurtful things that his partner has said or done in their relationship, but he filters all the kind and thoughtful things his partner does. This thinking contributes to feelings of negativity about his partner and their relationship.
Discounting the positive is a cognitive distortion that involves ignoring or invalidating good things that have happened to you. It is similar to mental filtering, but instead of simply ignoring the positives, you are actively rejecting them.
For example, Joel completes a project and receives an award for his outstanding work. Rather than feeling proud of his achievement, he attributes it to pure luck that has nothing to do with his talent and effort.
One way to overcome this cognitive distortion is to reframe how you attribute events. Instead of seeing positive outcomes as flukes, focus on noticing how your own strengths, skills, and efforts contributed to the outcome.
By having more faith in your abilities, you'll feel more empowered and less likely to experience learned helplessness, a phenomenon where people feel that they have no control over the outcome.
There are two ways of jumping to conclusions:
•Mind reading: When you think someone is going to react in a particular way, or you believe someone is thinking things that they aren't
•Fortune telling: When you predict events will unfold in a particular way, often to avoid trying something difficult
For example, Jamie believes that he cannot stand life without heroin. Such beliefs hold him back from getting the treatment and help that he needs to successfully recover from substance use.
To overcome this cognitive distortion, take a moment to consider the facts before you make a decisions. Ask questions and challenge your initial assumptions.
How to Stop Jumping to Conclusions
Magnification is exaggerating the importance of shortcomings and problems while minimizing the importance of desirable qualities. Similar to mental filtering and discounting the positive, this cognitive distortion involves magnifying your negative qualities while minimizing your positive ones.
For example, when something bad happens, you see this as "proof" of your own failures. But when good things happen, you minimize their importance. For example, a person addicted to pain medication might magnify the importance of eliminating all pain and exaggerate how unbearable their pain is.
Emotional reasoning is a way of judging yourself or your circumstances based on your emotions. This type of reasoning assumes that because you are experiencing a negative emotion, it must accurately reflect reality. If you feel experience feelings of guilt, for example, emotional reasoning would lead you to conclude that you are a bad person.
For instance, Jenna used emotional reasoning to conclude that she was a worthless person, which in turn led to binge eating.
"Should" statements involve always thinking about things that you think you "should" or "must" do. These types of statements can make you feel worried or anxious. They can also cause you to experience guilt or a sense of failure. Because you always think you "should" be doing something, you end up feeling as if you are constantly failing.
An example: Cheryl thinks she should be able to play a song on her violin without making any mistakes. When she does make mistakes, she feels angry and upset with herself. As a result, she starts to avoid practicing her violin.
Labeling is a cognitive distortion that involves making a judgment about yourself or someone else as a person, rather than seeing the behavior as something the person did that doesn't define them as an individual.
For example, you might label yourself as a failure. You can also label other people as well. You might decide that someone is a jerk because of one interaction and continue to judge them in all future interactions through that lens with no room for redemption.
In binary signaling such as FSK, distortion is the shifting of the significant instants of the signal pulses from their proper positions relative to the beginning of the start pulse. The magnitude of the distortion is expressed in percent of an ideal unit pulse length. This is sometimes called bias distortion .
May 7, 2024 · Cognitive distortions are biased and irrational thoughts that can cause psychological problems. Learn about 22 types of cognitive distortions, how to identify them, and how to change them with worksheets and exercises.
