A cognitive distortion is an automatic and subjective way of interpreting a situation based on preconditioned beliefs as opposed to objective reality. Such an erroneous interpretation precipitates negative emotions such as anxiety, depression, or anger. All-or-nothing thinking is one such distortion.
All-or-nothing thinking refers to thinking in extremes. You are either a success or a failure. Your performance was totally good or totally bad. If you are not perfect, then you are a failure. This binary way of thinking does not account nuances, and gives rise to a great deal of negative evaluations of ourselves and others.
Take for example something is right or it’s wrong, something is good or it’s bad. You are either perfect or a failure. It is thinking in terms of extremes without any nuance. An example in Scripture is Moses because he didn’t consider himself to have good oratorical skills he considered the mission God had called him too, mission impossible! Then Moses said to the LORD, "Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither recently nor in time past, nor since You have spoken to Your servant; for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue."(Ex4:10, NASB)
