Distorted Thoughts

Distorted thoughts, which are considered as one of the concepts of cognitive behavioral therapy, in other words, cognitive distortions include thoughts that cause people to perceive reality incorrectly. According to cognitive therapies, the common mechanism underlying all disorders is thought to be distorted thoughts that affect the individual's mental state and behaviors. Re-evaluating and changing these thoughts in a realistic way leads to improvements in emotions and behaviors. It is seen that more permanent improvements depend on changing the dysfunctional basic beliefs of individuals (Hiçdurmaz & Öz, 2011).

Distorted interpretations consist of faulty learning that we see and experience around us since birth. Cognitive distortions cause instantaneous automatic thoughts about events. Emotional disorders such as depression, anxiety disorder, panic attack, obsessive-compulsive disorder and cognitive distortions are explained in cognitive-based therapy methods, which underlie self-harming behaviors. Thoughts form the basis of cognitive therapy. We often distort new events and learning to fit existing core beliefs. These distorted interpretations settle into consciousness by automatically emerging thoughts. The registration process of newly learned information dates back to childhood years. In this period, incorrectly registered information may cause individuals to misinterpret themselves and their environment. Individuals with cognitive distortions accept their thinking errors as if they were real. In this context, cognitive distortions cause automatic thoughts that cause a person to feel worthless and cause some emotional problems in case of incorrect processing of information. The purpose of cognitive therapies is to help individuals make sense of and realize their self-harming thoughts and replace these erroneous thoughts with valid thoughts (Duman et al., 2019).

There are eleven types of distorted thought system. Either all or all. no thought; it causes all kinds of experiences and lives to be evaluated at two extremes. Extreme A generalization is the reflection of an event that has happened to his whole life and future. Mental filter; the person is stuck on a single negative event and detail. To invalidate the positive; to try to convince themselves that it is negative by ignoring positive events. Jumping to conclusions; making a negative assessment despite the lack of definitive evidence to support the conclusion reached. Growing and shrinking; the behavior of magnifying or shrinking things that happen to them disproportionately. Emotional decisions; don't think that negative feelings do not reflect reality. -should, -should sentences; do not use imperative statements about how behaviors, events, thoughts or feelings should be. Tagging; affixing a negative label. Personalization; Personalizing when we are not primarily responsible for an adverse event. Catastrophizing; It always includes thinking about the future negatively without considering other possible outcomes.