“If you spilled coffee in the morning, it means that the whole day will be unsuccessful,” or the traps of our thinking Modern research shows that the average person experiences more than six thousand thoughts. It would probably be great if all these thoughts were about something pleasant, important, related to everyday affairs, or were simply neutral. However... “If I spilled coffee in the morning, it means the whole day will be unsuccessful”, “He is upset - it’s probably because I did something wrong”, “I should always be productive and deal with everything!” Ordinary acquaintances thoughts? Or maybe cognitive errors? Cognitive distortions are persistent errors in thinking and perception that arise from unrealistic, often negative beliefs about oneself, other people and the world as a whole and affect emotions and behavior. As soon as such a thought flashes through your head, your state immediately changes: your mood may worsen, you may want to do something right away or, on the contrary, not do something, and tension and other unpleasant sensations may arise in the body. The whole point is that it is beneficial for thinking to have such thoughts arose, because once they helped to survive and adapt to the environment. Evolutionarily, it was important for humans as a species to identify and predict possible threats, because the world around was dangerous - it is difficult to adapt to it when you are small and have no fangs. Therefore, I had to think, be cunning and get out. Also, for a small child in a family where physical violence is used against him, the thought that the dearest and closest person, a parent, can treat him so cruelly can be terrifying. It is much easier for the psyche to accept another thought - “I’m probably bad, and therefore I deserve this attitude towards myself.” But cognitive errors are errors because they have negative consequences. In reality, such thoughts do not always help to act effectively, adaptively and beneficially for oneself. Rather, on the contrary, they have the ability to narrow the focus of attention (in which a person notices only negative thoughts, ignoring neutral and positive ones), turn into a vicious circle and work like a self-fulfilling prophecy, worsening a person’s well-being and life. Above, I gave examples of three cognitive errors: Arbitrary conclusion , namely a prediction error, when one situation extends to a whole group of further events (although in fact we cannot 100% predict situations in the future). Personalization, in which we take responsibility for everything negative around us, even if there is no reason (although we cannot directly influence the emotions, thoughts and even behavior of other people). Ought - when we have a clear idea of ​​​​how other people and ourselves should behave; if this is not justified, we usually experience strong negative emotions (although in fact, it is by “shoulding” that we drive ourselves into a vicious circle that does not allow us to act flexibly and effectively in different situations). It is not for nothing that in all these examples I wrote “we”, since Cognitive errors are a completely normal part of everyone's life. However, this does not mean that you should trust them and give your life. Negative thoughts will arise one way or another, but their influence can be reduced by: 1) observing and tracking these thoughts, 2) checking thoughts with the reality principle and separating thoughts from facts, 3) calling realistic thoughts along with negative ones (“What’s most likely? "). To detect cognitive errors, when your mood changes negatively, ask yourself, “What am I thinking right now?” and write down at least 8-10 response thoughts. Also, come to my VK group (https://vk.com/balashovamvpsy) - in the “Useful materials” section there is a complete list of cognitive errors.