Ten Common Mind Slants

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1) Overgeneralization: This distortion occurs when you hear about or experience a negative event and then believe it will continue to happen.

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Example: You may have had one bad interaction with someone you are supervising and now believe that you will always have negative relationships with your team members.

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2) All or Nothing: This mind slant is also known as "black or white thinking" and involves thinking in extremes.

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Example: Thinking you are the best in the world or you are worthless based on what is happening around you. 

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3) Catastrophizing/Worst Case Scenario: This type of thinking causes you to believe that the worst will happen, even in minor situations.

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Example: You believe that missing one deadline at work will cause the entire company to collapse. 

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4) Mind Reading: This can happen when a person assumes what another person is thinking, often attempting to confirm a fear.

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Example: A person comments on your work, and you assume that this person dislikes you and the quality of your work. 

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5) Fortune Telling: This distortion involves predicting something bad will happen and believing this as a fact, even if there is no evidence to say this is true.

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Example: Predicting that you will never be promoted because you haven't been promoted yet. 

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6) Labeling: This mind slant can happen when you let your negative beliefs about yourself come into a one-word description of who you believe you are.

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Examples of negative labels can include "failure" and "worthless." 

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7) Personalization: This involves you interpreting a situation to be associated with you when it actually is not connected to you at all.

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Example: You see two team members talk to each other as you walk by, and you assume that they are saying something negative about you. 

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8) Blocking Your Blessings: This involves believing that anything positive in your life is because of chance or luck.

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Example: Doing well at a work presentation and believing it was just luck; that you had no part in it going well. 

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9) "Should" Statements: This mind slant involves believing that you "should" be doing something in a certain way.  

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Example: Telling yourself that you should be staying two hours late at work each day even though no one has told you to do this and there is no policy telling you to stay late.

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10) Mind Filter: This distortion involves filtering out all positives that happen to you and only giving attention to the negative. 

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Example: Walking into work with a co-worker, ignoring a compliment they give you to focus on how frustrated you are about the meeting you have to go to in 30 minutes.

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