What is cognitive restructuring and how to think more clearly? (2023)

People are blamed for having less than rational thoughts. We assume the worst is about to happen and jump to conclusions before we have complete information. Science claims that cognitive restructuring is the key to clear thinking, but before we get into that, what is cognitive restructuring?

Cognitive restructuring helps people become aware of their irrational thoughts so they can correct them and replace them with more rational ways of thinking. It can help relieve symptoms of anxiety, depression, stress, anger and trauma. It's the four-step process that helps people recognize their distorted thoughts and replace them with them.Positive Thoughts.

It's important to look for ways to interrupt and redirect negative thought patterns as they arise. This allows a person to think clearly and ignore irrational thoughts when they try to surface.

What is cognitive restructuring?

Cognitive restructuring is a collection of therapeutic strategies that help people identify and change their negative thinking patterns. It's a good idea to look for methods to interrupt and redirect thought patterns when they start to become negative and self-defeating. Cognitive reorganization is capable of this.

The cognitive restructuring method helped people change their thinking patterns. The purpose of using this technique is alsomanage stressit is replacing cognitive distortions – thoughts that cause tension – with more rational, less stressful ones.

Cognitive restructuring is an important part of cognitive-behavioral therapy, which Aaron Beck developed in the 1960s. Beck linked his patients' symptoms to distorted thinking and hypothesized that if he could help his patients identify distorted thinking, could help them minimize mental health symptoms.^[1]

David Burns popularized Beck's ideas with his book in the 1980sFeel good.^[2]

As the name suggests, cognitive restructuring methods aim to restructure inaccurate or harmful thought patterns. People sometimes encounter cognitive biases - mental patterns that give a distorted and unhealthy perspective of reality. To understand how cognitive restructuring works, you need to understand cognitive biases.

I spoke with Margot Escott, LSCW, about how she uses cognitive restructuring in her therapeutic practice in Naples and Florida, and she explained that she starts the process by making her clients aware of the types of cognitive distortions.^[3]

Escott gives her clients a list of cognitive biases and asks them to spend a week thinking about which ones resonate with them.

Types of cognitive distortions

The following are examples of different cognitive biases:

1. Mental filtering

This happens when a person specifies only one (usually negative) detail of a situation and focuses only on the emotions and behaviors associated with it.

For example, when a child throws his mother a surprise birthday party and everything goes well, but the cake ends up tasting the wrong way. With mental filtering, the child fixates on this detail and feels that the whole arrangement was a failure.

2. Black and white thinking

When such a situation arises, the person cannot see a middle ground and perceives the situation with a defeatist attitude.

3. Overgeneralization

Overgeneralization is very common and occurs when a person reaches a conclusion without adequate information.

4. Catastrofizar

Disaster thinking arises when a person expects the worst. This usually happens to people who are afraid of flying. Although flying is the safest way to travel, every time you step aboard you'll fear the plane will crash.

5. Personalization

Personalization usually occurs in people withlow self esteemor those who have paranoia. It happens when they assume that everything people do or say applies to them.

6. Should Statements

These statements arise when someone compares himself and others to perceived universal standards. We can see this in girls who, after watching commercials for beauty products, begin to say, "I should be thinner or prettier."

7. Mind reading

This can happen when someone accepts what others think of them without verification.

8. Divination

When you anticipate a bad outcome without realistically considering the actual chances of that outcome, you engage in the cognitive bias known as guesswork. For example, if you're afraid of flying, you can shift your attention to the future, which you'll do after the plane lands, instead of focusing on the slightest chance of a plane crash.

9. Emotional thinking

The term "emotional thinking" refers to the tendency to be overly aware of one's feelings and to base one's judgments on those feelings. You assume something is true just because it "feels right" to you, when it isn't.

For example, if you get stuck in an elevator, your fear may make you feel that the elevator is not working and you will fall. But logically this is not the case.

Elevator malfunctions are common and you'll be out of the situation in minutes.

10. Marking

Labeling occurs when someone makes general statements or generalizations about themselves or others based on situation-specific behavior. For example, making a mistake and concluding that you are a failure is called labeling.

The 4 steps of cognitive restructuring

Each list of cognitive biases is different, but this will give you a general idea of ​​what kind of irrational thinking cognitive restructuring seeks to correct.

Recognizing these maladaptive beliefs as they arise is a key benefit of cognitive restructuring. That way, you can learn to reframe negative ideas more constructively. The idea behind this theory is if you canchange your perspectiveFaced with certain events or situations, you can change both the emotions you feel and the actions you engage in.

If you want to engage in this technique, you must first understand when to use cognitive restructuring. Let's look at the four main steps you need to take, using the cognitive bias of catastrophizing as an example.

1. Be aware of your thinking

The process begins by making our automatic thoughts conscious. The first step requires you to take some sort of inventory of your potentially problematic mindsets. Before changing your thoughts, you must become aware of your thinking - without judgment or correction yet.

Using the catastrophizing example, I notice that sometimes I say I lost my job and I can't pay my bills and then I lose my home and family. The first step is to become aware of that thought and catch it every time I fall into catastrophizing. I ask: "Is it true?" and if you're trying to predict the future i know that's the caseNotTRUTH.

You can take stock of your automatic thoughts for a week or explore them in therapy with a trained professional. Escott asks her clients to identify cognitive biases they noticed during a week. In any case, the first step is essential, as we cannot correct problematic automatic thinking without first becoming aware of what we are thinking.

2. Rate

Next, it's time to generate more rational thoughts. Once you've taken stock of your thoughts, you can start sorting out which ones seem rational and which don't.

Why do I think I'm losing my job? Maybe it's because I saw my parents lose their jobs, which weighed heavily on the family when I was a kid. Maybe I feel like oneimpostor,and I am not confident enough in some of my financial decisions. Thinking of questions can help you find an answer.

3. Be Rational

Once we identify a thought as problematic or unhealthy, we can see why it is problematic in the first place. At this point, we begin to wonder why we think this is true, if it is true, and how close it is to the truth.

I might start telling myself that I don't know if I'm going to lose my job or not. I can only focus on delivering my best performance. If there is a risk of losing my job, I can spend time networking on LinkedIn instead of catastrophizing.

I can also tell myself that it's unreasonable to link the loss of my job with the loss of everything. I could list all the things I could do to replace my job if I lost it. It would save me the risk of missing out on other things in my life.

4. Replace it

Finally, create alternatives to cognitive bias with more rational thinking. Our automatic thoughts are habitual and sometimes beyond our subconscious control. So the idea is not to get rid of cognitive distortions, but to catch ourselves when we distort reality and quickly replace the distortion with more rational thoughts.

Replace "I'm going to lose my job" with a more reasonable thought each time. I remind myself, "I don't know how likely it is that I'll lose my job, but I do know that I have seniority and I just got a raise. And if I lose this job, I can always go back to my father-in-law's business."

By rearranging their thoughts, people can gain a new perspective on their experiences. The idea is to replace cognitive biases with more pragmatic ways of thinking, but this requires a lot of reflection andself-awareness🇧🇷 You can certainly try it yourself, but it's usually best to let a trained professional guide you through the process.

Efficacy of cognitive restructuring

Science has shown that cognitive restructuring works. In one study, cognitive restructuring was more effective at reducing anxiety and worry compared to a control group and a group that taught relaxation techniques.^[4]

The idea is that cognitive restructuring forces people to correct their automatic thoughts. Escott explains that this process is effective because our thoughts become our feelings, which affects our overall well-being.

the end result

Cognitive restructuring addresses the root of the problem: our cognitive biases. So the next time you find yourself overgeneralizing or catastrophizing, take a step back. Ask yourself if this is true and how often is it true. Develop a more coherent line of positive thinking and replace distortion with this realistic thinking.

Cognitive restructuring may not be that easy, but if you're willing to think andtrusting, can have measurable effects in reducing your symptoms of trauma, stress, anger, depression and anxiety.

I would like to reiterate that cognitive behavioral therapy is a method best performed by trained professionals. For those who need help or want to delve deeper into cognitive behavioral therapy and cognitive restructuring, locate a trained mental health professional in your area.

Featured photo credits:Benjamin Davies via unsplash.com