Panic Attacks Support Group

Mindfulness: Paying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, and no-judgmentally.

COGNITIVE DISTORTIONS

1.Polarized Thinking: All or nothing way of thinking. Things are black or white, good or bad. If you do not do a perfect job, you are a total failure. There is no gray spots, no middle ground.

2.Filtering: You disqualify the positives...Ya but...You take negative details of a nice, pleasant situation and magnify them, filtering out all the positive details of the situation. You don't see the other side of the coin and the good in a situation. You don't consider that every situation can be good and difficult not all bad. You don't over look the "small stuff". The "small stuff" becomes "big stuff".

3. Catastrophizing: You are unable to see the "grand scheme" of things. You expect disaster. You are made aware of a problem and you start with the "what if". For example, "What if that happens here?" or "What if tragedy strikes".

4. Should: Trying to motivate yourself with "I should" or "I shouldn't" instead of saying "I will" or "I won't" and taking control of yourself and your choices. You have a set of rules regarding how you or others "should" or shouldn't" be. If you or anyone else breaks those rules, you feel guilty or angry.

5. Personalization: You are the cause of some negative external event that you were not primarily responsible for. You feel that what others do or say is some kind of reaction to you. You compare yourself to others...who is smarter, better looking, more likeable, etc.

6. Mind reading: Without their saying so, you know what people are feeling or thinking and why they act the way they do. In particular, you are able to tell someone else how they feel.

7.Overgeneralization: You come to a conclusion on a situation based on a single incident or piece of evidence. If something bad happened once, surely it will happen again and again. You become a fortune-teller.

8. Control Fallacies: You ruminate on your thoughts. You continue to focus on things you do not have control over. This is spinning your wheels. If you feel externally controlled, you see yourself as a victim of fate. You become responsible for the pain or happiness of everyone around you.

Post edited by: jojobear, at: 08/29/2010 07:53 PM

Post edited by: jojobear, at: 08/30/2010 06:40 AM

2. I can't drive over 50mins alone. I'll get lost, or get in an accident, I'll never find my way back! No one every gets lost forever. I am usually a nervous wreck while driving to a new place, but once I get there, I am ok, all anxiety leaves my body.

3. No one likes me. People are just being nice to me, They really don't like me, they are just being polite. If they didn't like me would they bother to be a part of my life?

4. I don't have the energy to do anything. So I won't do anything or go anywhere. But if I force myself to do something, I Usually do more and feel great and full of energy.

5. I will always be sick. I will never live free of Panic Attacks. I will never live a normal life. I have had panic for 11 years now, I have lived with it, been able to continue to work full time. I have accomplished quite a bit in the past years. I may have panic attacks the rest of my life, but I have and am learning new tools to make it easier to live with.

Post edited by: PhilPhil46, at: 08/30/2010 04:02 AM

Post edited by: PhilPhil46, at: 02/27/2013 06:40 AM

I'm going to share it with my readers on my personal blog.

Alex