Thinking Traps

Imagine this…

You dislike flying, but have to do it 3-4 times a year for work. While up in the air, the pilot comes on the speaker and tells you that there is turbulence ahead and requests that everyone fasten their seatbelt. You feel nervous and anxious and when the plane begins to get jostled, you begin to feel concerned about what comes next.

“Is the plane going down?”

“How much worse will this get?”

“Does the pilot know what they are doing?”

This scenario and the associated thoughts and questions would point most people towards feeling stressed and anxious due to the way the Thoughts, Behaviors, and Emotions Cycle is interacting.

Thoughts, Behaviors, Emotions Cycle - What is it?

Simply put, our thoughts, behaviors, and emotions are connected. These three are in a continuous cycle, and are connected for everyone, all the time. The way they flow into each other influences how we feel -- whether that’s the best day ever, the worst day ever, or somewhere in between.

Our thoughts are very influential on our mood, which makes the “thoughts” piece of this cycle a great place to start with learning about two key ingredients -- hot thoughts and thinking traps.

What are hot thoughts and thinking traps?

What is a hot thought? It is a single, concise statement about a situation. Hot thoughts spur emotions, which makes them feel real and true. Some situations have more than one hot thought - it’s important to identify the individual hot thoughts, even if they seem to be linked.

For the example above with the turbulence on the flight, some hot thoughts could be:

The plane is going to crash
The turbulence will not stop
This always happens when I fly

It makes sense that hot thoughts lead to feeling anxious or worried. The more comfortable we become with being able to identify them, the easier the next step will be to look for other interpretations of the situation.

Thinking traps, or cognitive distortions, are thoughts or misbeliefs about a person, situation, or event.

Human beings are naturally inclined to engage in some cognitive distortions - it's the way our brains try to reduce uncertainty about the world. Jumping to conclusions helps us feel more in control.

Whether you occasionally stumble into thinking traps or tend to fall into a regular pattern of cognitive distortions, you can train yourselves to recognize them and develop more flexible ways of thinking.

How do I know which trap I may be in?

Imagine a situation that caused you to feel stressed in the last week. What were the hot thoughts that you had about that situation? Take a moment and write them down.

Next, identify what type of thinking trap you might have been falling into (pick from the list below). Remember, thinking traps are very common. When we identify and pair them with hot thoughts, we are less likely to succumb to the anxiety they induce.

Common Thinking Traps:

Polarized Thinking: Aka “All-or-Nothing Thinking,” you see things in terms of extremes – something is either fantastic or awful, you are either perfect or a total failure.
Mind Reading: You assume you know what someone is thinking.
Fortune Telling: You jump to conclusions about what is going to happen, even though there are many possible outcomes.
Catastrophizing: You believe that something will be so awful that it will be unbearable, or that the worst will happen.
Overgeneralization: You perceive negative patterns from one event.
Negative Filtering: You focus only on the negative and discount the positives.
Personalization: You attribute the blame for all or most events on yourself.
Labeling: You assign judgmental adjectives or blanket statements to yourself and others.
Shoulding and Musting: You focus on what "should" or "must" happen instead of what is happening.
Emotional Reasoning: You interpret reality by what you are currently feeling.
Control Fallacy: You either believe that you have no control over your life and are helpless OR that you are in complete control of yourself and your surroundings, giving you responsibility for everyone and everything.

Do any of these sound familiar to you? Which thinking traps align with the hot thoughts you identified?

Check out the 'Tools' section below for more help with identifying and tracking hot thoughts and thinking traps.

Tools

Identification and Tracking:

Your goal at this stage is to get comfortable with identifying hot thoughts and also the thinking traps to which they link.

The more practice you have with this, the better you will be able to do it in the moment, helping you to get out of or avoid thinking traps.

Identifying Hot Thoughts

Use this online tool to practice identifying and tracking hot thoughts.

Link HERE

Thought logging: Avoiding traps

Use this very simple thought log to keep track of thoughts and practice assessing whether you might be falling into thinking traps.