“Change our thoughts. Change our Life.”

Hi. I am so enthusiastic about having you here. Let’s just jump right in. What is CBT? Dealing with CBT from a life coaching profession perspective is referred to as, Cognitive Behavioral Training/Techniques. Reversing cognitive distortions is often at the heart of CBT/REBT.

CBT deals with cognitive distortions which are irrational thoughts that influence our emotions. Everyone experiences cognitive distortions to some degree. In my life coaching practice, I use my skills, knowledge as well as my own life experience to break the cycle of distorted thinking in which I teach my clients how to learn to identify, interrupt, and change their negative thoughts, speech, actions, and reactions which are the primary components that renders everyone their own life results.

Cognitive distortions are habitual ways of thinking that are often inaccurate and negatively biased. Cognitive distortions usually develop over time in response to adverse events. According to, http://www.healthline.com, research suggests that people develop cognitive distortions as a way of coping with adverse life events. The more prolonged and severe those adverse events are, the more likely it is that one or more cognitive distortions will form. CBT may also develop as a survival method. Stress could cause a person to adapt their thinking in ways that are useful for their immediate survival. But these thoughts aren’t rational or healthy long-term.

The 10 Cognitive Distortions:

Polarized thinking.

Polarized thinking is referred to as all-or-nothing, or black and white thinking this is when a person habitually thinks in extremes. For example, that they are headed for success or are set up to fail. Or, and that persons in their lives are either good or evil these are signs that a person could be polarizing

Polarizing is often a distorted and unrealistic thinking process that is most unhelpful because for the most part reality about the thought lies somewhere between distortion and reality.

Overgeneralization.

Overgeneralization is when a person becomes a mind reader or fortune teller because they predict and come to a conclusion about a person, place, or thing and then use the misinformed information everywhere they possibly can.

Example: This person failed at math in grammar school and throughout their high-school years. Now, as an adult, they see themselves as a failure at math in general. This is primarily due to their negative experiences surrounding math such as being called up in front of the whole class to complete a math problem getting the math problem wrong in front of the whole class and only being further humiliated by the teacher. The irrational thought of this person is that they are no good at math. So, instead of understanding that perhaps they just didn’t get the assistance that they had needed during their youth to help with improving their math skills. And, as an adult, this person has an option to seek out assistance online or offline that can help them improve their math skills.

Just as with relationships. A person may have experienced one, two, or a few bad relationships causing them to develop a belief system that they are just not good at relationships.

According to Healthline amongst other practitioners, Overgeneralization has been associated with post-traumatic stress disorder and other anxiety disorders.

Catastrophizing/Awfulizing.

This is when people distort situations. Assume the worst of other people. Expect the worst of people, places, and about things that they don’t know nor have any certainty about and this is often when and where worries can swiftly arise its unattractive head.

Healthline gives a great example of Castastrophizing/Awfulizing. “An expected check doesn’t arrive in the mall. A person who catastrophizes most likely will begin to fear that the check will never come, and the consequence is that they will not be able to pay rent and the family will be evicted.

We have the tendency oftentimes to ignore catastrophizing as moments of hysteria and being overreactive, however, those who developed this cognitive distortion may have most likely experienced repeated events that caused them to develop this form of cognitive distortion in the first place such as “chronic pain” or “childhood trauma” more often than they fear the worst in nearly every situation.

Personalization.

Personalization is when a person blames themselves for situations and circumstances that they did not cause, and or were beyond their control. Another example is incorrectly assuming that others purposefully leave them out of gatherings, meetings, and special events and being the target of others.

Personalizations are well noted by professional practitioners to be associated with heightened anxiety and depression.

Mind reading.

Mind reading is when a person assumes they know another person’s thoughts.

From this perspective, it can be challenging to identify mind reading and empathy where one is able to look at the situation/circumstance and understand what another may be feeling.

To tell the difference between the two, it can be helpful to count all of the evidence and not just confirm evidence that agrees with their suspicions or beliefs.

According to Healthline, at least one study has found that mind reading is more common among children than among adolescents or adults and is associated with anxiety.

Mental & Emotional filtering.

A mental filter is a term used to describe one type of cognitive distortion, or faulty thought pattern, that can often lead to higher levels of anxiety and depression. When thinking through a mental filter, a person is focusing only on the negative aspects of a situation and filtering out all of the positive ones according to, Verywellmind.com.

An example of the mental filer is when say you got honored with kudos from your boss and co-workers for putting together a really great presentation and only one or maybe even two people criticized it. Out of all the people who gave you thumbs up you decide to focus on the one or two who thumbed down on your great presentation.

As a Life coach, I teach you how to manage your mental & emotional filtering.

Discounting the positive.

Discounting the Positive: You reject positive experiences by insisting they “don’t count.” If you do a good job, you may tell yourself that it wasn’t good enough or that anyone could have done as well. Discounting the positive takes the joy out of life and makes you feel inadequate and unrewarded, according to Pacwrc.pit.edu.

As your Life coach, when thought patterns become destructive and self-defeating, I help you to explore ways to interrupt and redirect them.

Statements of “Should.”

The possibility of cognitive distortion is most likely at work is when we find ourselves thinking and speaking in the terms of what we “should” and what we “ought” to do, or have done.

We all will do and feel much better in our lives when we stop “shoulding” ourselves and very seldom if at all are ought and should helpful primarily because number one, most likely it’s someone else’s voice in our heads such as a parent, teacher, or someone we looked up to along our life journey telling us what we should and ought to be doing. Not to say that the voice may not be telling you something worthy to adhere to. But more so saying, is it something that you want, or do not want to perform, speak, or go? Also, “Should” and “ought” are mostly stated by the person thinking them a negative lens of their life.

According to Healthline, types of thoughts such as the aforementioned are usually buried in the internalized family or cultural expectations which might not be appropriate for an individual. The same thoughts can remove your self-esteem and increase your anxiety levels.

Emotional reasoning

Oooh! This is probably the most famous of all cognitive distortions. According to Healthline, emotional reasoning is the false belief that your emotions are the truth and that the way you feel about a situation is a reliable indicator of reality.

Researchers have found that emotional reasoning is a common cognitive distortion. It is a pattern of thinking that is used by people with and without anxiety or depression according to, Healthline.

Personally, and as a Life coach I do believe in the power of thoughts, words, feelings, and emotions as I do believe that these descriptives contain energy/vibes that help us create our life inclusive of the type of world we desire to live in so having clarity on their importance is vital as it relates to my coaching practice and so it is important to listen to, validate, and to be able to express one’s emotions. It is as important to decide what is reality based on rational evidence. As your Life coach, I help you understand and apply this concept using the best modern practice coaching tools and methodologies.

What is REBT?

When it comes to life coaching, REBT, is referred to as Rational Emotive Behavioral Training/Techniques. Whereas, if provided by a therapist REBT would be referenced as, Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy. The difference between the usage of the two is like the difference between a Life coach, a counselor, or a Therapist in that coaches focus on outer action with measurable results. Whereas counseling focuses on the “inner” conscious and subconscious mind therapists and other mental health professionals often look to diagnose their clients with conditions that explain why they behave a certain way. Coaching does not and should not aim to cure mental health problems and if an individual does have a mental health issue unknowingly and or undetected this can be counterproductive as well as dangerous on so many levels. Just putting it out here to make it known that there are certainly differences when it comes to coaches, counselors, and therapists.

REBT is an action-oriented approach that’s focused on helping people deal with irrational beliefs that are created and developed from their (bs) belief systems that were most likely created and passed to them along their life journey from family and, or community. Our belief system is what creates our irrational beliefs which ultimately create our limiting belief system.

The majority of people are mostly unaware of how profoundly embedded their irrational thoughts are and how their irrational thinking affects them on a day-to-day basis, as well as, everyone else they may come in direct contact with on a daily, or even once in a while.

It is important for me as a Life coach to provide my clients with understanding and clarity of the following.

Our thoughts create our feelings/emotions. Our feelings/emotions create our actions/reactions which give us our life results.

“Change our self-talk. Change our World.”

As a Life coach, my focus and my niche are helping people deal with their irrational beliefs and limiting beliefs systems and learn how to manage their emotions, thoughts, and behaviors in a much healthier and more realistic way that works for them. Because it is the irrational and limiting beliefs that primarily keep us stuck in life. Once my client can identify their bs, and limiting beliefs with understanding and clarity their mindset becomes limitless, fearless, and unstoppable! Yes. Most pleasing results.

Contact: Coach Katie. I’m ready for some Life coaching results! 🙂