Common cognitive distortions include thinking yourself unworthy of love or success, believing everyone hates you, blaming yourself for your parents' divorce, and other self-destructive beliefs. Cognitive distortions are not always self-deprecating, however.
For example, many depressed people hold on tightly to beliefs such as “I am defective,” “I am unlovable,” “I will never be successful,” or “The world is doomed to disaster.” These types of thoughts are cognitive symptoms that occur as commonly in depression as a fever occurs as a symptom of an infection.
It can impair your attention and memory, as well as your information processing and decision-making skills. It can also lower your cognitive flexibility (the ability to adapt your goals and strategies to changing situations) and executive functioning (the ability to take all the steps to get something done).
The CDS (Covin, Dozois, Ogniewicz, & Seeds, 2011) is a 20-item self-report measure that assesses the frequency of 10 types of cognitive distortions (mindreading, catastrophizing, all-or-nothing thinking, emotional reasoning, labeling, mental filtering, overgeneralization, personalization, should statements, minimizing ...
The potential cognitive changes from depression include executive dysfunction, impaired learning and memory, reduced attention and concentration, and lower processing speed.
According to cognitive behavioral theory, depressed people think differently than non-depressed people, and it is this difference in thinking that causes them to become depressed. For example, depressed people tend to view themselves, their environment, and the future in a negative, pessimistic light.
There are 4 major thinking patterns aimed to problem solving: A) Logical thinking, B) Correlative thinking, C) Lateral or Divergent thinking, D) Non-conceptual thinking (see below).
Negative thought patterns, or cognitive distortions, can manifest as incorrect assumptions, unrealistic self-criticisms, and even the denial of reality itself. Yet, the effects of this thinking can be all too real for someone struggling with their mental health.
These learning skills can be divided into three main categories or “domains”: the cognitive domain (what you should know), the affective domain (what you should care about), and the psychomotor domain (what you should be able to do).
Depression doesn't just get in the way of being happy. It can also interrupt your ability to think. It hampers your attention, memory and decision-making abilities. You may find that your executive functions are limited, so you begin having trouble seeing your way through issues.
The journal published a study that showed how speech patterns changed when people are depressed: their speech becomes lower, more monotone, more labored, and has more stops, starts and pauses. And as depression worsens, the individual's speaking becomes more gravelly, hoarse, and less fluent.
Stressful thinking patterns are an example of cognitive distortions—the belief that something is true despite it having no basis in fact. Not surprisingly, this leads to mental suffering. I'm using cognitive distortions that the chronically ill tend to engage in.
If a thought is disturbing and it's something you want to push out of your mind, it might be an intrusive thought. The thought feels hard to control. Intrusive thoughts are often repetitive and won't go away. "The more you think about it, the more anxious you get and the worse the thoughts get," says Dr. Williams.
The conditions most commonly linked to racing thoughts are bipolar disorder, anxiety disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, sleep deprivation, amphetamine dependence, and hyperthyroidism.
According to Mayo Clinic, there are four main ones to be exact: personalizing, filtering, catastrophizing, and polarizing.
Some people who have severe depression may also experience hallucinations and delusional thinking, the symptoms of psychosis. Depression with psychosis is known as psychotic depression.
Healthy thinking means looking at the entire situation—the positive, the negative and the neutral parts—and then coming to a conclusion. In other words, healthy thinking means looking at life and the world in a balanced way, not through rose-coloured glasses.
Negatively biased attention is a second cognitive mechanism that has been implicated both theoretically and empirically in depression (Gotlib & Joormann, 2010).
COGNITIVE MODEL FOR DEPRESSION
It essentially means that individual differences in the maladaptive thinking process and negative appraisal of the life events lead to the development of dysfunctional cognitive reactions.
Cognitive dysfunction refers to deficits in attention, verbal and nonverbal learning, short-term and working memory, visual and auditory processing, problem solving, processing speed, and motor functioning. Cognitive dysfunction may be a primary mediator of functional impairment in MDD.
Feelings of sadness, tearfulness, emptiness or hopelessness. Angry outbursts, irritability or frustration, even over small matters. Loss of interest or pleasure in most or all normal activities, such as sex, hobbies or sports. Sleep disturbances, including insomnia or sleeping too much.
Behavioural characteristics include loss of energy, disturbances with sleep and changes in appetite. Emotional characteristics include depressed mood, feelings of sadness, and feelings of worthlessness. Cognitive characteristics include a diminished ability to concentrate and difficulties with attention.