Editing Cognitive distortion (section)

===Assuming the worst===

==== Overgeneralizing ====
Someone who overgeneralizes makes [[faulty generalization]]s from insufficient evidence. Such as seeing a "single negative event" as a "never-ending pattern of defeat",<ref name="burns" /> and as such drawing a very broad conclusion from a single incident or a single piece of evidence. Even if something bad happens only once, it is expected to happen over and over again.<ref name="grohol" />
* Example 1: A person is asked out on a first date, but not a second one. They are distraught as tells a friend, "This always happens to me! I'll never find love!"
* Example 2: A person is lonely and often spends most of their time at home. Friends sometimes ask them to dinner and to meet new people. They feel it is useless to even try. No one could really like them. And anyway, all people are the same: petty and selfish.<ref name="about">{{cite web|last=Schimelpfening|first=Nancy|title=You Are What You Think|url=http://depression.about.com/cs/psychotherapy/a/cognitive.htm|access-date=2010-01-31|archive-date=2016-03-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304000647/http://depression.about.com/cs/psychotherapy/a/cognitive.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>
One suggestion to combat this distortion is to "examine the evidence" by performing an accurate analysis of one's situation. This aids in avoiding exaggerating one's circumstances.<ref name="burns" />

==== Disqualifying the positive ====
Disqualifying the positive refers to rejecting positive experiences by insisting they "don't count" for some reason or other. Negative belief is maintained despite contradiction by everyday experiences. Disqualifying the positive may be the most common fallacy in the cognitive distortion range; it is often analyzed with "always being right", a type of distortion where a person is in an all-or-nothing self-judgment. People in this situation show signs of depression. Examples include:
*"I will never be as good as Jane"
*"Anyone could have done as well"<ref name="burns" />
*"They are just congratulating me to be nice"<ref>{{cite web |website=Palomar |url=https://www2.palomar.edu/users/jtagg/disqual.htm|title=Disqualifying the Positive |access-date=2020-01-03}}</ref>

==== Mental filtering ====
{{Main|Selective abstraction}}

Filtering distortions occur when an individual dwells only on the negative details of a situation and filters out the positive aspects.<ref name="burns" />
* Example: Andy gets mostly compliments and positive feedback about a presentation he has done at work, but he also has received a small piece of criticism. For several days following his presentation, Andy dwells on this one negative reaction, forgetting all of the positive reactions that he had also been given.<ref name="burns" />
''The Feeling Good Handbook'' notes that filtering is like a "drop of ink that discolors a beaker of water".<ref name="burns" /> One suggestion to combat filtering is a [[cost–benefit analysis]]. A person with this distortion may find it helpful to sit down and assess whether filtering out the positive and focusing on the negative is helping or hurting them in the long run.<ref name="burns" />