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Self-Awareness & Personal Growth · Thinking Patterns · 7 min

Common Thinking Traps

Patterns described in cognitive behavioural therapy, and how to question them.

Psychiatrist Aaron Beck and later David Burns described "cognitive distortions": habitual thinking patterns that can make situations feel worse than they are. Everyone uses them sometimes.

Examples

  • All-or-nothing thinking: "If it isn't perfect, it's a failure."
  • Catastrophising: imagining the worst possible outcome as certain.
  • Mind reading: assuming you know what others think.
  • Overgeneralising: "This always happens to me."
  • Should statements: harsh rules like "I should never feel sad."

Questioning a thought

  • What is the evidence for and against it?
  • What would I tell a friend?
  • Is there a more balanced way to say it?

Lightkeepers offers reflection and education for adults. It is not medical, psychological, or financial advice, and it makes no supernatural promises.