Negative thinking can be grouped into 4 main categories: personalizing, overgeneralizing, catastrophizing, and polarizing. Identifying these types of distorted thinking is an important first step in addressing negative thought patterns.
Personalizing
Personalizing involves taking things personally or blaming yourself for external events. For example, you might assume that someone didn’t say hello because they don’t like you, even though there could be many other explanations. Or you might blame yourself for something at work going wrong even when it wasn’t your fault.
Examples of Personalizing
- “My boss is in a bad mood today. It must be something I did.”
- “My friend didn’t text me back right away. She must be mad at me.”
- “I got a poor performance review. I’m terrible at my job.”
Overgeneralizing
Overgeneralizing is when you take a single incident or piece of evidence and draw broad conclusions from it. For example, if you fail one test, you might conclude “I’m stupid and bad at everything.” Or if someone doesn’t like you, you might think “No one will ever like me.”
Examples of Overgeneralizing
- “I didn’t get hired for that one job. I’ll never get a job.”
- “My partner was annoyed with me one time. They must not love me anymore.”
- “I got a C on that paper. I’m a terrible writer.”
Catastrophizing
Catastrophizing involves imagining the worst case scenario and treating it as if it’s the most likely outcome. For example, you might hear a strange sound in your car and immediately think it’s going to break down. Or feel a little sick and convince yourself you must have a serious illness. Catastrophizing takes a minor problem and blows it out of proportion.
Examples of Catastrophizing
- “My stomach hurts a bit. What if it’s stomach cancer?”
- “My partner seems a little distant today. They’re definitely going to break up with me.”
- “I have a big project due next week that I haven’t started yet. I’m going to completely fail and get fired.”
Polarizing
Polarizing, or “black and white” thinking, involves only seeing extremes. You categorize things as either good or bad, a success or failure, with no middle ground. This type of thinking can cause you to see situations inaccurately. For example, you might view a challenging project as either a complete success or a total failure, even if the reality is somewhere in between.
Examples of Polarizing
- “If I’m not the top salesperson this month, I’m a total failure.”
- “If I don’t get straight As, I’m a bad student.”
- “If my house isn’t spotless, I’m a total slob.”
Overcoming Negative Thinking
Learning to identify and challenge these kinds of negative thoughts is an important skill. Here are some tips for overcoming negative thinking patterns:
- Challenge the thought: Ask yourself if there’s evidence that contradicts the negative thought or alternative explanations. What would you tell a friend who had this thought?
- Put it in perspective: How will worrying about this thought help you? Is there a more positive and productive way to frame the situation?
- Focus on facts: What objective facts apply to this situation, separate from your interpretations of it?
- Mind your self-talk: Notice negative self-talk and consciously replace it with kinder, more balanced thoughts.
- See the gray: Look for the nuances rather than the extremes. Challenge black-and-white categorizations.
With practice, you can catch yourself when you engage in negative thinking and reframe the situation in a more positive, realistic light. Over time, you can change unhelpful thought patterns and improve your outlook and mental health.
Conclusion
Negative thinking patterns like personalizing, overgeneralizing, catastrophizing, and polarizing can be harmful to our self-image and emotional wellbeing. Learning to identify these thought distortions and replace negative self-talk with fair, balanced thinking takes work but can dramatically improve mental health. Challenging your negative thoughts is a powerful step in developing greater positivity, optimism and peace of mind.