Irrational Thinking Styles – Overgeneralizing

Irrational Thinking Styles: Overgeneralizing

Drawing generalizations from a single instance. For example, if you blow one job interview because of nerves, an overgeneralized thought would be “I’ll never succeed in job interviews” (when a more rational thought would be: “I didn’t succeed in this one”). Key words here are – everybody/nobody, always/never, everyone.

Example

“I blew it again! This always happens, I’m hopeless”

Instead try

“Ok so I made a mistake. I don’t always make mistakes; there are lots of times when I make good decisions. I’m only human and humans make mistakes. What can I learn from this situation for next time?

Black and White Thinking

Catastrophizing

Emotional Thinking

The Fairness Fallacy

Mind Reading

Overgeneralizing

Personalizing

Shoulds

Tunnel Vision