FreeMind Stress Management: Cognitive Distortions

Managing Stress

3 damaging thought patterns

…and how to deal with them!

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Let’s examine a scenario!

AAAA has made a mistake with an important

customer.

He begins to feel anxious. Although he is

working on correcting the mistake, he begins to

fear that the customer will complain to his boss.

He begins to worry. Are his promotion prospects

damaged? Could he also lose his job? What will

his wife say when she hears about this?

By afternoon he is extremely worried. He is not

being able to focus on correcting the mistake.

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The second scenario…

BBBB passes her boss in the corridor and she

says hello.

He does not reply and walks past.

She assumes that he is angry at her for

some reason.

In a few seconds she is convinced that

something is wrong and is trying to figure out

what she has done.


The third scenario …

CCCC feels that there are two types of

people in life, the successful ones

and the failures.

He’s from a premiere engineering

college and in 5 years, has

performed extremely well in his

company.

He has always wanted to work and

settle down in Europe.

Now his chance has arrived. He

totally expects to be transferred to

UK as an employee of the UK

division next month.

But then, someone else is chosen.

C is devastated. He feels that all his

dreams have fallen apart.

So, what’s wrong with their thought patterns?

How should they be thinking instead?


A is ‘Catastrophising’ Catastrophising is a cognitive distortion when we take a minor negative event, and imagine all sorts of disasters resulting

from it.

The flaw: Things go wrong often. That doesn’t mean that all of them lead to disaster.

Alternative thought: Rather than thinking of what more can go wrong, A should be focusing on correcting the mistake.

B is ‘Personalizing’ We ‘Personalise’ when we interpret events as being related to us personally and overlook other factors.

The flaw: B feels that her boss not saying ‘hello’ has something to do with her personally. She is overlooking other factors

– the boss may have been thinking about something and may not even have noticed her!

Alternative thought: B needs to understand that everything that happens to her may not have anything to do with her

personally. People behave according to the situations they face, not according to what she does or does not do. Unless

there are additional signs, there isn’t sufficient reason to think that her boss is angry or upset with her.

C is carrying out ‘Black-or-white Thinking’

‘Black-or-white Thinking’ is about thinking in extremes only, with nothing in between. Either people love me or hate me; I am either a

success or a failure, etc., etc.

The flaw: Everything in life has degrees, not just a thermometer! The problem here is compounded because C has previously been

very successful. Not facing failure before, he had little trouble labelling himself as a ‘success’.

Alternative thought: C first of all needs to understand that he can’t ‘win’ every time. Even the best batsman will be out sometime!

He also needs to understand that everything in life has degrees to it, including degrees of success and failure.

BBBB

AAAA

CCCC

All three of them are going through a ‘cognitive distortion’

A ‘cognitive distortion’ is a thinking error. It’s when our emotions lead us to make incorrect

judgements about circumstances and think negatively.

It’s of course possible that there is a genuine cause for concern, but is there any concrete

evidence to believe that there is a genuine problem? We need to logically evaluate.

So, is there a tool which we can use to keep such negative thoughts in check?

Of course there is!

Method 1: CBT

Basic CBT is about analysing our thoughts and emotions. We ask ourselves...

"Why am I feeling this way?"; "What evidence do I have to draw this conclusion?"; "Do I really have a

problem here?"; How is this really a problem in the long run?"

FreeMind provides a desk pinup with an fun diagram of relevant questions which people can look up

anytime they are feeling negative emotions about any situation. In most cases people feel a lot better and

have a far clearer picture of the situation after they ask themselves the question in the desk pinup.

Method 2: NLP

If basic CBT doesn't work, people can quickly apply a specific NLP technique. NLP reprograms the

mind to look at the situation differently.

FreeMind teaches specific NLP tools which you can use at your desk to rapidly diffuse stress and

get back to work - all within 5 minutes!

Method 3: EFT

In rare cases the above two methods may not work. This happens when there are deeper underlying

emotional issues which are at play. EFT, being the world's most advanced method for emotional cleansing,

can do the job when nothing else can.

FreeMind teaches a quick version of EFT which people can learn within 15 minutes. Each EFT round takes

only 90 seconds. A few rounds of EFT on the core emotional issue can stop such thoughts from ever

occuring again!

STRESS MANAGEMENT APPROACHES

The three approaches below will solve different degrees of the problem. Start

with basic CBT. If the problem is more severe, apply NLP or EFT.


Enjoy a stress-free job with FreeMind!

We would be happy to discuss the programme with you.

+91-9958860228

[email protected]


FreeMind Business Solutions

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FreeMind Stress Management: Cognitive Distortions

Health & Medicine

Transcript of FreeMind Stress Management: Cognitive Distortions