The Art of Distorted Thinking & How to Change Distorted Thoughts – Symptoms of Mental Illness –  Dr. David Burns

Sep 10, 1999 – © Karen Hamilton

‘Your thoughts & beliefs about interaction with others & behavior, create reality, feelings about life” –  So says Dr. David Burns, in The Feeling Good Handbook. 

Think about that statement &realize what thoughts are true & which ones are ‘Perceived’ or ‘Negative’  & will not server  Mental Health & Spiritual Growth.

The key to stopping  ‘negative’ thinking is ‘PAUSING’ & stopping ‘INCOMING’ THOUGHTS – in their tracks.  

To have a Free Will Choice to Create Positive & Helpful Behavior.

Once this is done – ‘Calling to Consciousness’- 

Just Pausing to discern at a higher level of thought 

(Positive or Mindfully & not remain ‘BLOCKED’  in the BINARY – Black-White an ‘ABSOLUTE’ Thinker.

Higher consciousness is the consciousness of a higher Self, transcendental reality, or God. It is “the part of the human being that is capable of transcending animal instincts”. The concept was significantly developed in German Idealism & is a central notion in contemporary popular spirituality – in the Midbrain & Prefrontal Realm.  Higher consciousness – Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Higher_consciousness

The Art of Distorted Thinking & How to Change – Distorted Thoughts –

Symptoms of ‘Mental Illness’ –  Dr. David Burns

The following  checklist of ‘COGNITIVE DISTORTIONS’ that Dr. Burns outlines:

Becoming familiar with them creates awareness! 

 When you find yourself entering a state of anxiety, judgmental, irritable, negative, etc. Study this list! 

If ‘PRESUMPTION’ become ‘BELIEF’  (seen as truth), it becomes ‘FIXED’ dogma or ‘rules to follow’ boundaries (Dr. Ira Prokoff)

1. All-or-nothing thinking: Things are looked at IN THE ABSOLUTE, (black and white categories) 

or You perceive what others ‘say to you’ in black or white. (Take it wrong).

2. Overgeneralization: You view negative events as excessive out of proportion & pattern of defeat. (or you view others by overemphasizing their behavior as negative).

3. Mental filter: You dwell on the negatives and ignore the positives or view others situations only as negative.  (View others behavior or them as negative people)

4. Discounting the positives: You insist that your accomplishments (or that of others) & choose to discount  positive qualities of self (or others).- “tear down or belittle the accomplishments.”

5. Jumping to conclusions: 

(A) Mind reading – you assume that people are reacting negatively to you when there’s no definite evidence of this or you view others in a negative – often Presuming!

(B) Fortune Telling – you arbitrarily predict that things will turn out badly for yourself or others (or wish bad luck on others.)

6. Magnification or minimization: You blow the behavior of yourself or of others ‘way-out-of proportion’ or you shrink their importance inappropriately.

7. Emotional reasoning: You reason from how you feel: “I feel like an idiot, so I really must be one.” or (Others seem like an idiot, so they must really be one – (Presuming with only a “thin slice” of the truth).

8. Should statements: You criticize yourself or other people with ‘shoulds’ or ‘shouldn’t.’ ‘Musts,’, ‘Oughts,’ and ‘have to’s’ are similar offenders. 

9. Labeling: You identify with your shortcomings. Instead of saying “I made a mistake,” you tell yourself, “I’m a jerk,” or “a loser.” 

Or see Others – they are a looser, they made a mistake (cut me off in traffic), so they are a ‘jerk’.

10. Personalization and blame: You blame yourself for something you weren’t entirely responsible for, or you blame other people and overlook ways that your own attitudes and behavior might contribute to a problem. 

Cognitive Distortion Chart : Copyright 1980 by David D. Burns, M.D. Adapted from Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy New York: William Morrow & Company, 1980, Signet, 1981

ANOTHER WAY TO UNDERSTAND & MANAGE THOUGHT DISTORTIONS – Switching thought tracks from Negative (Destructive) to Positive (Creative)

From:   Dr. Marilee Adams Defining Mindsets – YouTube  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cId6nIRM2mQ Aug 16, 2012 – Uploaded by Inquiry Institute

Marilee Adams defines a mindset as a ‘worldview’, a mental model –

Explanation of The Choice Map –

Learner/Judger™ mindset distinctions allow people to shift from blame-focused questions that impede success – to solution-focused questions that facilitate it. 

Whether we ask Learner or Judger questions frames our thinking, listening, behaving, and relating. This is why we focus on our mindset first.

The goal is to build a more resilient (Positive) Learner Mindset.

Judger questions are reactive and automatic, leading to ‘defensiveness,’ win-lose relating, and a view of ‘limited possibilities’. 

‘Learner’ questions are flexible & adaptive, leading to questioning assumptions, win-win relating, and a view of plentiful possibilities.

Yet, Dr. Marilee Adams deeply appreciates Judger. 

Surprised? Watch this video to learn why.

Explanation of The Choice Map – From “Change Your … – YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azN9_jTbdmI

16, 2011 – Uploaded by Inquiry Institute http://inquiryinstitute.com/resources… 

Dr. Marilee Adams explains the Choice Map at the Inquiring Mindset …