Thought traps

It is common that we as humans have different thought traps/faults that we can get stuck in. These thought traps sometimes make us feel worse than we need to, because they affect our interpretation of many situations. During some periods thought traps can be more dominant and during other they affect us less.

To not let yourself be affected by them as much, and not give the thought traps possibility to steer our interpretation, it is important to first be aware of them. Later, when we have negative thoughts we can ask ourselves: Is it just me getting stuck in a thought trap now? Is it really this way, or is it my interpretation?

Which thought traps do you recognice?

1. Disqualification of the positive
Positive things don't count or you come up with excuses for them. "There is something fishy about this..."

2. Minimizing
You see positive things as real but still insignificant.

3. Overgeneralization
A single event or situation are interpreted as being characteristic for your whole life.

4. Labeling
This is an extreme form of ovegeneralization. A person with foreign apearence takes a bike = all immigrants are thieves.

5. Black-white-thinking, all or nothing-thinking
There are only two alternatives, success or failure. "If I don't do it perfectly I'm nothing to have."

6. Selective abstraction, the binocular-trick
If you see a rose you only see the buds. You only focus on one aspect, often negative, among many other aspects.

7. Personalization
You take personal responsibility, even when other aspects have an impact. For example, you take it personally when critique is made about a group.

8. Emotional thinking
You assume that the feelings you have are the same thing as reality. "I feel that this is hopeless, so that is what it actually is."

9. Reading thoughts
You think that you know what others are thinking about you. "It's clear what they think by just looking at them."

10. The mistake of the seer
You live as if your negative expectations are fact. "That's just the way it is, it's not going to work."

11. Catastrophic thinking
Negative situations and smaller unexpected events are made into big catastrophies.

12. Must and should thinking
Is often used to strengthen motivation. It is connected to guilt and feelings of shame. "I shouldn't get upset with my mum. She wants the best for me and would get hurt..."