Ten cognitive distortions and Asperger syndrome
In 1980, the American psychotherapist David Burns published a book that has remained a standard of therapy ever since. Feel Good: The New Mood Therapy was an instant bestseller. The book details the relationship between thoughts and mood, and offers research-based exercises to control “automatic thoughts” and, as a result, mood.
Burns identified ten common cognitive distortions, exaggerated and irrational thoughts, that can negatively affect mood. They are extremely common, and identifying them in yourself can serve as the first step in changing them.
Take a look at the following list and see if any of these distortions are habits of yours.
1. ALL OR NOTHING THINKING: Sees things in categories of black and white. If his performance falls short of perfect, he sees himself as a total failure.
2. OVERGENERALIZATION: You see a single negative event as an endless pattern of defeat.
3. MENTAL FILTER: You choose a single negative detail and you stop exclusively at it so that your vision of all reality is darkened, like the drop of ink that discolors the entire glass of water.
4. DISQUALIFY THE POSITIVE: Reject positive experiences by insisting that they “don’t count” for one reason or another. In this way you can hold a negative belief that contradicts your everyday experiences.
5. JUMPING TO CONCLUSIONS: You make a negative interpretation even though there are no definitive facts that convincingly support your conclusions.
has. Mind reading. You arbitrarily conclude that someone is reacting negatively to you and don’t bother to check.
b. The fortune teller’s error. You anticipate that things will go wrong and feel convinced that your prediction is an established fact.
6. MAGNIFICATION (CATASTROPHIZATION) OR MINIMIZATION: You exaggerate the importance of things (like your mistake or someone else’s achievement). Or you inappropriately shrink things until they seem tiny (your own desirable qualities or the imperfections of others). This is also called the “binocular trick”.
7. EMOTIONAL REASONING: You assume that your negative emotions necessarily reflect how things really are: “I’m sorry, so it must be true.”
8. SHOULD STATEMENTS: You try to motivate yourself with shoulds and shouldn’ts, as if you had to be spanked and punished before you were expected to do anything. The “shoulds” and the “shoulds” are also offenders. The emotional consequence is guilt. When you direct statements towards others, you feel anger, frustration and resentment.
9. LABELING AND MISLABELING: This is an extreme form of overgeneralization. Instead of describing your mistake, you put a negative label on yourself: “I’m a loser.” When someone else’s behavior bothers you, you put a negative label on it: “He’s a fucking louse.” Mislabeling involves describing an event in very colorful and emotionally charged language.
10. PERSONALIZATION: You see yourself as the cause of some negative event for which, in fact, you are not primarily responsible.
Cognitive distortions are characteristic of depression and anxiety. Adults with Asperger’s are especially vulnerable to adopting distorted thought patterns. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), a modality of psychotherapy that aims to challenge and change distortions, is the most researched and common form of therapy used to help people with Asperger’s change the way they think about themselves. Often adults on the spectrum, when confronted with the illogical nature of some of these automatic thoughts, are eager to change them to take on a more reality-based perspective.
If you find yourself engaging in distorted thinking, you can start replacing illogical thoughts with more accurate (and often forgiving!) thoughts right away. Remember, cognitive distortions that leave you holding the short end of the stick can seem like a form of perfectionism. But they can often keep you from enjoying life, feeling safe, and reaching your potential.