Minimization

  Minimization is in some ways the ‘mirror image’ of magnification. It refers to playing down the significance of positive events and achievements. The person thinks that the good things that they have done are less valuable than they actually are. With minimization the individual readily attributes positive events to merely ‘luck’, pure ‘chance’ or ‘the skills and expertise of others’ but never their own skills. However, at the same time they readily attribute all the negative events and failures that happen to their own incompetence (as in magnification).

Personalization

  Personalization refers to the tendency to see oneself as the ‘cause’ of some negative events, for which they are not necessarily responsible and when there is no rational basis for doing so. Neutral events are interpreted as having negative significance to the individual. For example, a friend cancels an evening out and you think it’s because they don’t like you, or your children behave badly and you think it must be your fault. Similarly, someone might ‘snap’ at you and you blame yourself, thinking ‘I must have deserved it’.

Black and white thinking

  Black and white thinking is a form of dichotomous thinking, which refers to the tendency to place experiences in one of two discrete categories rather than on a continuum. Shades of grey do not seem to exist for black and white thinkers. It is sometimes referred to as ‘all or nothing’ thinking. For example, the world is seen in terms of dichotomies, such as people are either ‘all good or all bad’, ‘100 per cent successful or a complete failure’, ‘perfect or rubbish’, ‘strong or weak’, ‘loved or hated’ and so on. It ignores the middle ground and leads to polarized thinking.

‘Should’ and ‘must’ statements

  Should and must statements are examples of what are called moral imperatives. Moral imperatives refer to setting rigid and often unrealistic rules and standards about one’s own or others’ conduct and being particularly harsh and unforgiving towards oneself (or others) for not meeting these. It involves living by fixed rules and fretting about how things ought to be rather than how it actually is. Sometimes these imperatives are used by the individual to motivate them to achieve more. However, in reality they end up making them feel guilty or demoralized as a result of not meeting these expectations or resentful towards others who do not meet them. Some examples of moral imperatives include ‘I must help everyone who needs it’, ‘I must please everybody all of the time’, ‘I should always be a nice person’ and ‘I should always put others first’.

Challenging dysfunctional patterns of thinking

  Once the individual has learned to become aware of their own dysfunctional thinking style(s), the next step is to evaluate them and look for more helpful and realistic alternative ones to replace them. There are a number of well-established techniques used to challenge the negative automatic thoughts identified in the thoughts diaries. These include ‘Examining the evidence’, ‘Exploring the alternatives’ and ‘Identifying the advantages and disadvantages’ of thinking in such a negative way. Other useful techniques, which can help the individual come up with more positive and plausible alternatives and test them out, include ‘The friend technique’, ‘Checking it out’, ‘Estimating probabilities’, ‘Reattributing meaning’ and ‘Conducting behavioural experiments’. All these techniques are presented below.