Unhealthy Thinking Styles

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I was going through some old papers from when I was in therapy today and found one that I thought was pretty useful. I used to do pretty much all of these all of the time and they are not healthy.

I tend to analyse everything that I do or see. I need to learn to relax and go with the flow.

I used to give people the benefit of the doubt too much. Now, I understand that people can be sincere and still wrong, and there are others for whom the benefit of the doubt is their main working capital.

I grew up in pretty much black and white thinking culture. Having the poems I wrote as a 10 years old dismissed because they were not as good as Szymborska's (Nobel Prize winner) poems Stuff like that, done to self and others as a local social norm.
It made me turn to Math as safe space - but not everyone likes Math and life decisions are not Math.

I like it.

The chart I mean. It's something I would've like to get my hands on sooner -- and received too late. A decade or so too late.

Gained Number Post Count (1).
Lose Time (n).

Lose more time here - Updates at least once a week.

That chart is cognitive psychology in a nutshell. For more help, get that book by David Burns, "Feeling Good." Same horse, different saddle.

There is disagreement whether being in a low mood leads one to think certain ways, or whether thinking in certain ways - often learned from the home environment or other exemplars - leads to low moods. The circular theory of depression states that these types of thinking patterns perpetuate depression, so it doesn't matter which came first, it just keeps going on forever. This model can explain why some people are extremely resistant to change, while others improve with a little therapy or an antidepressant. Low mood + thought distortions leads to a long, tortuous course.

I said depression, but it could also be anxiety.

My firewall eats cookies for breakfast.