 According to statistics, only a small percentage of you who watch our videos are actually subscribed. If you're not subscribed yet and you enjoy what you see, do consider hitting the subscribe button. This encourages YouTube's algorithm in promoting more of our mental health content to more people out there. Hey Psych2Goers, welcome back to another brand new video. Have you ever wondered about thoughts? Do you control your thoughts or are you controlled by them? When do they become distortions? If you compare your conscious mind to a film, then your thoughts are the one second still of a frame. Like films and any photographic medium, thoughts are subject to manipulation. When we consciously feed or engage with thoughts in a certain way, they gain power. This is what differentiates a thought from a cognitive distortion. Cognitive distortions are not thoughts. They are ways of thinking we actively engage in, sometimes unknowingly. Persistent cognitive distortions can worsen or create mental health issues. Fortunately, distorted thoughts are habits and we can learn to change them, ultimately preventing these unhealthy habits from promoting unhealthy thinking styles. Here are five common habits that distort how you think. 1. Overgeneralization After a failed past relationship, deleting dating apps or eschewing relationships altogether is the standard course of action. Overgeneralization is a cognitive distortion where you might base all your information on a single incident. This kind of thinking is limiting and sets you up for all distorted thinking and emotional pain. It establishes self-defeat before even going to battle. Most times, overgeneralizations are inaccurate. Your mind is like a soundboard. The ideas you play over in your head eventually make up the melody. If you find yourself overgeneralizing an action or event, pause. Consider doing a cost-benefit analysis on the thought. Is it worth thinking this way? Ask yourself if there is relevant significant evidence to back up this thought. 2. Labeling Labeling or mislabeling is an extreme form of overgeneralizing. An example of labeling would be when, ignoring context, someone might label another as a jerk if they rub them the wrong way. It's either globally self-directed or directed towards others. In reality, labeling is just another term for prejudice, harboring ill thoughts about someone, you or someone else, without sufficient evidence to support your thought. Mislabeling typically involves highly colored and emotional language. Often, you tend to label without context. A first step to combating these kinds of distorted thoughts is identifying them. 3. Blaming Do you constantly feel that in your life, there are certain things just out of your control? Or that bad things happen regardless of how careful you are? However, this does not absolve you from taking control of what you can control. A common habit that distorts the way you think is blaming. An example of blaming can look like this, stop making me feel bad about myself. You may feel called out by someone's comment, but like Eleanor Roosevelt said, no one can make you feel inferior without your consent. Blaming involves holding other people or situations accountable for your emotional pain. In some cases, it can also go the other way, blaming yourself for everything that happens even when it is out of your control. This thought habit encourages you to not take responsibility or accountability for what happens to you. Although there will be things in your life that you cannot control, hold yourself accountable for the things you can, your actions and emotions. 4. Magnification Do what ifs plague you into imagining the absolute worst in every situation? What if I do badly on this test? Or what if I get tongue-tied at the interview? Magnification or catastrophizing is when you negatively exaggerate the outcome. You are in a state of anxiety about the negative possibilities, thus causing you to exaggerate the significance of unimportant events, such as a social blunder or someone else's achievement. Magnification is harmful because it keeps you frozen, too scared to move forward. The same can be said for magnification's cousin, minimization. An example of minimization is when you downplay a personal achievement. I did score high on the test, but I'm not that smart. 5. Emotional reasoning Have you ever thought back on a situation and wished you had reacted differently? It is easy to let emotions overwhelm your rational mind and lead you to believe something that is not necessarily true. Emotional reasoning is taking our emotions to the extreme, allowing our thoughts to be solely ruled by our emotions. Some examples of emotional reasoning are I feel guilty, so I must be guilty of something or I feel inadequate, so I must be. Engaging in emotional reasoning means you assume that these unhealthy emotions reflect reality. Mental health issues make emotional reasoning one of the easiest distortions to fall into. Emotions are like the weather, constantly changing. If you are having a rainy day, finding shelter in someone who is supportive and willing to listen to you can be a great help. Getting out of an emotional reasoning distortion might not be easy, but reaching out to a licensed therapist can help make a difference. Cognitive distortions can easily change your perspective, but looking at the bright side, you can easily change the distortion as well. That is because cognitive distortions, in essence, are habits and the most effective way to get rid of a bad habit is by replacing it with a healthier one. When faced with distortion, it helps to first identify it, examine the evidence it presents, and challenge it. You will find that most of these cognitive distortions fade away when you look at them through a clearer lens. When having trouble dismantling some of your thought habits, seeking a therapist for help can help untangle the yarn ball of your thoughts. Did you find yourself nodding along at these points? Leave a comment down below about your experiences with them if you'd like. Please feel free to share any thoughts you have as well. If you find this video helpful, be sure to hit the like button and share it with those out there detangling their own yarn ball. Don't forget to subscribe to Psych2Go and hit the notification bell for more new videos. Thanks for watching!