The Little Book of Thinking Errors
A Self-Help Guide to Changing Unhelpful Thoughts
Kevin M O’Doherty
First Published in United Kingdom by Cognitive Therapy books
Copyright 2009 by Kevin O’Doherty ©
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without the prior permission of the author and the publisher, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN No: 978-0-9562641-0-7
About the Author
I began my academic career as a psychology lecturer and moved on to become a health psychologist and cognitive behaviour therapist. At the time of going to print, I am Co Director of Calibre Gold (www.calibregold.com) a company providing training and consultancy to Health and Social Care Teams, and also those working in the corporate sector, focusing on Motivation and Performance Enhancement.. I also have a private CBT practice in Central London, where I continue to see clients face to face, and via telephone or webcam all over the world..
I decided to write the ‘Little Book of Thinking Errors’ for very practical reasons. There was no other small, compact and easy to use book that summarised most of the thinking errors that came up in my clinical practice. I wanted to design the book in such a way that it could be used primarily by clients, and people who merely had an interest in the way our thoughts help to shape our feelings. But also, the intention was for the book to be useful to practicing therapists and other health and social care professionals.
On a personal level, I have certainly found that in the process of writing this book, I am much more aware of how important it is to increase awareness of our thinking errors, and of the range of techniques we can use to replace unhelpful thoughts, thus helping to minimise psychological distress.
I very much hope that you will find this book an easy to use, valuable resource. Feedback is always welcomed. Please visit the website below.
Thank you very much for your purchase.
If I can be of help or service to you, please do get in touch with me via the website below. If you are on a low income, we may be able to arrange a reduction in fees. I work with clients all over the world via telephone and webcam.
Devoted to the love of my life...Theresa
Whose love, support and encouragement makes all things possible.
I Love You
Contents
Vii. Foreward
Viii. Who is this book suitable for?
Xiii. How to use this book
1. Predicting the future negatively
2. Mindreading
3. Catastrophising
4. Personalising
5. Demanding perfection of self
6. Demanding certainty
7. Demanding justice
8. Black and white thinking
9. Should, must and have to
10. Over-generalising
11. Over-estimating the dangers
12. Underestimating your ability to cope
13. Minimising or filtering out the positives
14. Magical thinking
15. Placing a Value on yourself as a whole person on the basis of one event
16. Magnifying
17. Jumping to conclusions
18. Assuming there is only one valid view
19. Assuming your view will never change
20. Assuming that nobody can help
21. Assuming you can (or should) change other people’s behaviour
22. Using ‘what ifs’
23. Comparing yourself negatively to others
24. Using self put-downs
25. Using double standards
26. Emotional reasoning
27. Fretting over questions that can’t be answered
Appendix 1a. Example ABC Thought Record
Appendix 1b: Example ABCD Thought Record
Foreward
Have you ever found yourself feeling sad about what happened yesterday? Or worrying about what may happen tomorrow? Do you sometimes notice a whole range of disturbing thoughts going round and around in your mind? It was the psychiatrist Aaron Beck in the 1960’s who first coined the term ‘thinking errors’ to describe some of the mistakes we can sometimes make in our thinking, which can play a part in emotional distress. Beck found a close relationship between these thinking errors and depression. Since then, a great deal of research has taken place, confirming the link between the way we think and how we feel.
For Cognitive Behaviour Therapists, helping you to review and amend unhelpful thinking is viewed as being of central importance in the alleviation of emotional distress. Thus, when you begin to work with a CBT therapist, they will help you to develop a deeper understanding of your thought processes, with a view to replacing the unhelpful thoughts, with more constructive and realistic views, that are more conducive to psychological health and wellbeing.
This book lists and describes many of the thinking errors that can play a part in psychological distress and unhappiness. Each thinking error is described using fictitious examples and lots of useful suggestions for challenging the thinking errors are outlined.
Who is this Book Suitable For?
The Little Book of Thinking Errors is primarily suitable for anyone who is interested in better understanding the link between what they think and how they feel. No prior knowledge of psychology or Cognitive Behaviour Therapy is assumed, or needed.
People undergoing Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, or any other form of counselling or psychotherapy will find this book a very useful resource.
CBT Therapists in training will find this book a very useful learning tool to help them identify and remember the many thinking errors there are.
Practicing CBT Therapists can use the book (and hopefully recommend it to their clients!) in their therapeutic work as a clinical aid/adjunct.
The book will prove especially valuable in group CBT Therapy.
Finally, this book will prove to be a very valuable resource for other Health, Welfare, and Social Care professionals, who engage in one to one work with clients.
How To Use this Book
The main aim of this book is to raise awareness of the thinking errors that can play a part in emotional distress and unhappiness. This raising of awareness is in itself, therapeutic, and is the first step towards taking control of the thoughts that can lead to unhappiness, and replacing them with more useful, realistic and constructive alternatives. If you are undergoing CBT therapy, your therapist will guide and support you in the best use of this book. If you are not undergoing CBT therapy, and are using the book independently, here are some tips: