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Cognitive distortions in Social Situations often amplify social fears and hold individuals back. Addressing these thoughts involves the following steps:
Mnemonic “JUMP FOR FACTS”
J – Jumping to Conclusions
Making negative assumptions without evidence.
Example: Thinking, “They must be mad at me,” just because a friend doesn’t reply to a message right away.
U – Unrealistic Shoulds (Should Statements)
Setting unrealistic expectations or rules for yourself or others.
Example: Thinking, “I should always be successful,” or “I should never make mistakes.”
M – Magnification and Minimization
Magnification: Overemphasizing the importance of something.
Minimization: Downplaying something important.
Example: Magnifying a small mistake into a career-ruining disaster, or minimizing a well-earned promotion by thinking, “It’s no big deal.”
P – Personalization
Taking blame for things that aren’t your fault.
Example: Thinking, “It’s my fault the project failed,” when others were involved, too.
F – Filtering
Focusing only on the negative aspects of a situation and ignoring the positive ones.
Example: Dwelling on one minor mistake in a job interview and ignoring all the positive feedback.
O – Overgeneralization
Making broad conclusions from a few incidents.
Example: Failing a test and thinking, “I always fail at everything,” despite it being one test.
R – Reasoning Emotionally (Emotional Reasoning)
Believing that your emotions reflect reality.
Example: Feeling anxious and thinking, “Something must be wrong with me,” even though the anxiety could be a normal reaction to a new situation.
F – Fortune-Telling
Predicting a negative outcome without evidence.
Example: Thinking, “I’m going to fail this presentation,” before even giving it.
A – All-or-Nothing Thinking (Black-and-White Thinking)
Seeing things in extremes with no middle ground.
Example: Thinking, “I didn’t get 100% on this project, so I’m a complete failure,” even though the result was still positive.
C – Catastrophizing
Expecting the worst possible outcome and viewing situations as much worse than they are.
Example: Thinking, “If I don’t do well on this exam, my entire future will be ruined.”
T – Thinking in Labels (Labeling)
Assigning a negative label to yourself or others based on a single behavior.
Example: Calling yourself “a loser” because you made a mistake.
S – Self-Defeating Beliefs (Disqualifying the Positive and Attributional Style)
Dismissing positive events and reinforcing insecurity.
Example: Disqualifying praise with thoughts like, “They’re just being nice,” or explaining your success by saying, “I was just lucky.”
