When Your Thinking Doesn’t Match Reality
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Faulty thinking occurs when we make assumptions without evidence to support them. This is when you make up things up in your own head. These are called “automatic thoughts,” but your mind has skewed them. You believe what you make up in your head, not seeing what is actual reality.
Judging Yourself
Those who judge themselves harshly tend to struggle the most. For example, you might think, “I’m always doing things wrong,” when only one problem occurs. Your brain takes that one mistake and turns it into proof that you're generally bad at everything.
These kinds of negative thoughts influence how you feel. The cognitive model suggests that your thoughts lead to your feelings, and your feelings drive your behaviors. Faulty thinking causes you to interpret something as having a greater impact on your emotions. For example, if you think, “My friend didn’t text me back because she doesn’t like me,” you will feel rejected. But if you think, “She’s probably just busy,” you have reframed the thought into something in need of investigation. Here, you aren’t making up reasons why - you are considering alternative reasons.
Negative Thinking
Faulty thinking, like all-or-nothing thinking, makes us see everything as perfect or a disaster, with no middle ground. Catastrophizing leads us to expect the worst possible outcome, while mind-reading assumes you know what others are thinking (“He must think I’m stupid”). We focus only on the negatives, ignoring the positives. Each of these distortions skews reality, leading you to believe something that may not be true. This makes our problems appear bigger and our strengths smaller. The result is often painful. When your thoughts distort reality, life starts to feel more disappointing than it really is. If you constantly predict failure or rejection, you begin to feel anxious or depressed, not necessarily because life is terrible, but because your mind is tricking you into believing only a negative reality.
Negative Core Beliefs
You can even think of faulty thinking as a habit. If someone keeps telling themselves, “I’ll never succeed,’ they might give up trying, which makes failure more likely. Or if they believe, “Nobody cares about me,’ they might start withdrawing from others, making it even harder for people to show they care.
The Impact of Distorted Thinking
Basically, distorted thoughts don’t just affect how you see the world — they actually shape the world you create for yourself. The good news is, faulty thinking can be fixed through cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and psychodynamic psychotherapy. Therapy teaches you to challenge and change distorted thoughts into realistic ones. CBT encourages you to make sure there is evidence to support your negative thoughts. In psychodynamic therapy, your childhood and past traumas are discussed to help you identify why you think the way you do.
“Fight” Your Negative Thoughts
Let’s examine the thought, “I’m terrible at my job.” In therapy, we look for evidence that supports or contradicts that belief. When you “fight” that thought by examining the evidence, you may discover that the thought or belief isn’t correct. Doing this repeatedly will help you correct negative thinking and reduce it.
In addition to “fighting” your thoughts, mindfulness practices can also be powerful tools to help you change faulty thinking. Be mindful and observe thoughts without judgment, so you can begin to see them as simply thoughts, not facts. This helps break the automatic link between thought and emotion. Instead of being convinced that a negative thought is true, you can reframe it and consider all alternatives.
Using a Thought Journal
In cognitive therapy, a helpful tool is “thought journaling.” Writing down your thoughts lets you spot patterns you might not notice otherwise. Seeing your own words on paper can show you how harsh or irrational your self-talk can be. You may be surprised to realize you’ve never said these things to a friend, only to yourself. Just noticing that can lead to real change.
Most people experience some faulty thinking. The point isn’t to get rid of negative thoughts completely, but to see when they’re not helpful and take back control over how you see things. When you start challenging your thoughts, your feelings tend to balance out, and even your relationships improve. Fixing faulty thinking isn’t just about feeling good—it’s about understanding the world and yourself with clarity. You start to see things as they really are, not how you make them up in your head.