What is unhelpful thinking?

Unhelpful thinking is a way of thinking which may be considered to be distorted, fixed and based on assumptions. Such thinking may lead to distressing feelings and unhelpful behaviours. Unhelpful thinking creates a vicious circle.

What are common thinking errors?

Mindreading – making assumptions about what other people are thinking.

Personalisation – believing that a situation means something about you.

Predicting – making assumptions about what is going to happen next.

Catastrophising – believing that the worst possible scenario will occur.

Overgeneralising – making general conclusions based on one experience.

Being selective – ignoring positive information.

These thinking errors are often untrue, for example ‘I know that everyone dislikes me’, and easy to believe because you do not question them.

How can counselling help?

Counselling can help you to explore your thinking errors and to gain a different perspective. You can learn to challenge your thoughts and examine whether there is any evidence to support the way you are thinking. You can also identify if you are making things worse than they really are. Counselling can help you to make changes to break the vicious circle.

Copyright 2010 Christine Bonsmann. All rights reserved.