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Jumping to Conclusions |
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You jump to conclusions that are not warranted by the facts |
Cognitive Distortions
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You jump to conclusions that
are not warranted by the facts. Fortune Telling and Mind Reading are classic
examples. Fortune Telling: You assume you know what is going to happen before it
happens. Mind Reading: You feel that you know what other people think of you or
what you do. |
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Unrealistic or twisted thoughts |
Realistic, untwisted responses |
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Fortune Telling: "I'd go to
the support meeting, but I know people will think bad of me and I'll have a horrible time." |
"I am scared about going
to the meeting for the first time, but everyone probably is. Every person at
that meeting had to go through a first meeting one time."
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Mind Reading: "She thinks I'm
lazy just because I'm heavy." |
"I really can't know
what she is thinking unless I ask her." |
Fortune
Telling often becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy.
You feel convinced that your prediction about a future event is an
already established fact so you behave and react from that perspective. If
you tell yourself that you don't have a chance of losing weight, you probably
won't. If you tell yourself that you will fail, you probably will. These kinds
of fortune telling errors kill hope. The fact is that you can't see the future.
You may have never tried eating whole natural foods before and you have no idea
if it will work for you or not.
When
we make assumptions about how other people think about us or our efforts (Mind
Reading), we tend not to check it out. We may be feeling rejected or angry for
no valid reason. For instance, your friend fails to ask you to go with them to a
significant event. You then assume you weren't ask because your friend doesn't
want to be seen with such a heavy person or doesn't like you any more. You
feel rejected and hurt for days. In reality, your friend didn't ask you because
it was a family only function, or perhaps couldn't get tickets. Your automatic
thoughts caused you to feel the distress and hurt, not the actions of your
friend. If it's too difficult to ask them directly, it can help to sit down and
write out a series of alternative explanations for the situation.
 Few if any of us can actually read
other people's minds or see the future. If we are going to feel anxious or
upset, we might as well do it for valid reasons based in reality—not our
imagination.
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Dave's Journey to Fitness