Examples of Irrational Beliefs/Thinking Errors

Common Irrational Beliefs

1. It is an absolute necessity for a person to have love and approval from peers, family, and friends.
2. You must be unfailingly competent and nearly perfect in all you undertake.
3. It is horrible when people and things are not the way you would like them to be.
4. You feel fear and anxiety about anything that is unknown, uncertain, or potentially dangerous.

Common Thinking Errors

1. All-or-none thinking: Seeing things in black and white categories. If a situation is not perfect, you see it as a total failure.
2. Catastrophizing: Holding an inaccurate view of a situation (or the possible consequence of an event) as terrible or far worse than it actually is.
3. Bad bookkeeping: One negative event or one unfinished task cancels out all of the positive events or finished tasks.
4. Over-generalizing: Falsely assuming that, because you have had a bad experience in a situation, this bad experience will repeat itself in other situations.