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This is the first episode in the series focusing on cognitive distortions as another way of understanding the psychology of it all where I explain the self-sabotaging habits of mind we all do from time to time the primary aim of this series is to help you decide if you need therapy coaching or just the good friend little disclaimer. The purpose of this podcast is pure. For education and entertainment purposes only nothing in this podcast should be construed as professional advice because I don't have a relationship with you as a nurse practitioner. If you happen to be a current or previous patient, you should know that the information presented is not necessarily applicable to your individual situation. And if you'd like to schedule a private consultation, please do so. All right, let's get on with it for the next few weeks. I'm going to be explaining cognitive distortions and the role they play in self-sabotage. So let me first tell you what I mean by cognitive distortion seems self explanatory, but Distortions are biased perspectives that we take on ourselves in the world around us. They are irrational thoughts and beliefs that we unwittingly reinforce over time to the point where they become automatic and almost reaction. Like if you'll recall from the previous series on defense mechanisms reactions can be trained. The goal is to train our thinking to reduce bias and contend with reality the first step in preparing the brain how to think clearly is to recognize the need to change. Difficulty in realizing the necessity lies in our tendency to strongly believe in our objectivity. Actually. We think there's no possible way that we're holding onto any blatantly false beliefs hate to break it to you. But you're a mere mortal the difference between occasionally believe in your own nonsense. And those who are perpetually inconsistently convinced of their own nonsense rests in the ability and the willingness to confront our patterns of thinking cognitive. Distortions are in automatic thought process that interfere with our ability to consider other ways of thinking about a situation when we become overly reliant on these thought errors. We tend to interpret the world in ways that feel mental distress and may cause things like depression anxiety and Trigger our anger. So what's an example of a cognitive distortion I'll begin with number one all-or-nothing thinking sometimes just called the category polarized. Thinking or black and white thinking this Distortion manifests as an inability or an unwillingness to see Shades of Gray. In other words. You see things regarding extreme something's either fabulous or foul. You're either a great success or a total failure. It's not difficult to see how this type of thinking can cause you self-sabotage. For example, you're on a job interview and you get asked a question that you deem out of left field things were going well up. Until that point you realize that you did not answer the question exactly how you would have liked but instead you immediately start to disparage yourself as an utterly qualified individual and assume that the entire interview was a waste of time. This is the same type of cognitive distortion. That's sabotages. Most New Year's resolutions. It reinforces. The fallacy. That one indiscretion has ruined everything done thus far how many of you have decided to go on a diet? And you're doing well on day 1 and Day 2 Day 3 you're drinking your water. And then you eat a cookie and you deem all your efforts failure and then you eat the rest of the cookies and you deployed defense mechanisms to reinforce your bias thinking. I really like how my fat pushes out my wrinkles making me appear younger or who needs to lose weight. Anyway, the fact remains you may indeed need to lose some extra pounds for your physical health and your cognitive. Portion is sabotaging your effort. So how do you fix this process? Well, the answer first is to recognize Shades of Gray be open to the fact that just because you have a thought or a feeling it doesn't make it a fact and it might require an alternative interpretation facts require evidence to support them. Ask yourself. What evidence do you have for your thought? What evidence is there against your automatic? Thought are you thinking rationally or are you having some sort of? Rational emotional reaction force yourself to come up with other plausible explanations for Alternatives just practicing this allows you to slow down enough to process and truly confront reality. Did you really gain back all the way you lost by eating one? Cookie, is it one cookie less calories than five cookies really? Did you really blow the interview? Because one question caught you off guard? Guard are your self sabotaging thoughts helping you achieve your goals. It's possible that you're interpreting the situation all wrong one strategy is to replace negative distorted Thoughts with other plausible more empowering ones. For example, it was not the fact that you did not answer the question. Well enough perhaps you realized halfway through the interview that this was not a good fit for you. Was the lapse in judgment leading you to finish the entire bag of cookies or take a drink or snort a line or place one more bet pick your Vice was that laps? Perhaps a teaching moment that now makes you aware of potentially high-risk situations in which you may act irrationally and now you're better equipped to avoid the future relapse. Monitor yourself for all-or-nothing thinking do you find that you are using absolute terms like always and never is there any positive interpretation of the situation these strategies may seem simple enough, but I assure you that old habits die hard pay close attention to your thinking this week and see if you can censor your all-or-nothing thinking and next week. I'm going to explain the cognitive distortion of overgeneralization. Well, that's our time for today. Please don't forget to subscribe download like and share. This is dr. Raymond's akari helping you understand the psychology of it all.
   For the next few weeks, I am going to be explaining Cognitive Distortions and the role they play in self-sabotage. So let me begin by first defining what I mean by a Cognitive Distortion. Cognitive distortions are the biased perspectives we take on ourselves and the world around us. They are irrational thoughts and beliefs that we unwittingly reinforce over time, to the point where they become automatic and almost reaction like. If you recall from the previous series on Defense Mechanisms, reactions can be trained. The goal is to train our thinking to reduce bias and contend with reality. The first step in preparing the brain how to think clearly is to recognize the need to change. The difficulty in realizing the necessity lies in our tendency to strongly believe in our objectivity. Actually, we think there is no possible way we are holding on to any blatantly false beliefs. I hate to break it to you, but you are a mere mortal. The difference between occasionally believing your own nonsense, and those who are perpetually and consistently convinced of it, rests in the ability and willingness to confront our patterns of thinking. Cognitive distortions are automatic thought processes that interfere with our ability to consider other ways of thinking about a situation. When we become overly reliant on thesse thought errors, we tend to interpret our world in ways that fuel mental distress and emotions such as depression, anxiety, and anger. All-or-Nothing Thinking / Polarized Thinking Also known as “Black-and-White Thinking,” this distortion manifests as an inability or unwillingness to see shades of gray. In other words, you see things in extremes – something is either fabulous or foul, you are either great success or a total failure. It is not difficult to see how this type of thinking can cause you to self sabotage. For example, imagine you are on a job interview and you get asked a question you deem out of left field. Things were going very well up until that point. You realize that you did not answer the question exactly how you would have liked, but instead, you immediately disparage yourself as utterly unqualified and assume the entire interview was a horrible waste of time. This is the same type of cognitive distortion that sabotages most New Year’s resolutions. It reinforces the fallacy that one indiscretion has ruined everything done thus far. How many of you have decided to go on a diet? And you are doing well on day 1, and day 2, and then day 3 you ate a cookie. You deem your efforts a failure and therefore you eat the rest of the cookies, and you deploy defense mechanisms to reinforce your biased thinking ( I really like how my fat pushes out my wrinkles making me appear younger, who needs to lose weight anyway). The fact remains you may indeed need to lose the extra pounds for your physical health and well-being and your cognitive distortion is sabotaging your efforts. So how do you fix this faulty thought process? The answer is to recognize shades of grey. Just because you have a thought or a feeling it does not make it a fact. Facts require evidence to support them. Ask yourself, What evidence do you have for your thoughts? What evidence is there against your automatic thought? Are you thinking rationally or are you having an irrational emotional reaction? Force yourself to come up with other plausible explanations for alternatives. Just practicing this will allow you to slow down enough to process and truly confront reality. Did you really gain back all the weight you lost by eating 1 cookie? Did you really blow the interview because the one question caught you off guard? Are your self-sabotaging thoughts helping you achieve your goals? Is it possible that you are interpreting the situation all wrong? 