Some negative thoughts just flow through you — you think them and then let them go. Sometimes, however, they get stuck and you ruminate over them. Those are the negative thoughts you have to deal with.
Very often, the negative thoughts we ruminate on are thoughts whose negativity we amplify by cognitive distortions — unhelpful ways we frame the thought to “deal with it”. It’s not really dealing with the thought, however. Cognitive distortions are ways to manage the thought and get control over it, but often the thought is getting control of us because our rationale is itself negative.
For example, when the stressor of a job interview comes up, some people tell themselves that they “always fail job interviews” or they will “never get the job”. These rationales are two different cognitive distortions — in the former case, what my therapist called ‘awfulizing’ and the second ‘fortune telling’. Reality tells us that we can’t have that certainty about the outcomes. Uncertainty is scary, and some people manage it by projecting a negative outcome.
There are several categories of cognitive distortion. A few are (Therapistaid.com, 2023):
- Awfulizing (the official name is catastrophising, but I like my word better)
- Fortune-telling (predicting the future)
- All or nothing
- Overgeneralization (‘always’ and ‘never’)
- Mind reading
- Labeling
- Shoulds
- Emotional reasoning
We are trained to cognitive distortions, largely by family of origin.
Cognitive journaling is a way out of cognitive distortions. It consists of examining the triggering event and the thoughts that come up. In the thoughts, there will be clues as to the cognitive distortions there. Contradicting the cognitive distortions with more reasonable thoughts is the next step. (Brooklyn Center for Psychotherapy, 2026)
Understanding that one’s automatic thoughts aren’t reality can train your mind out of automatically giving in to cognitive distortions. That can help us to stay positive rather than ruminating on the negative.
Citations:
Brooklyn Center for Psychotherapy (2026). 10 common cognitive distortions. Available: https://newdirectionsbrooklyn.com/10-common-cognitive-distortions-and-how-to-challenge-them/ [June 24, 2026].
Therapistaid.com (2023). Cognitive distortions. Available: https://www.therapistaid.com/worksheets/cognitive-distortions [June 24, 2026].
Words Like Me 