Cognitive Distortions Might Lead to Emotional Dysregulations

Here’s how to fix them for a healthier and happier life.

This story is for information and awareness purposes. It does not include health advice.

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When studying cognition methodically, I noticed a robust relationship between our thoughts and emotions, as the cognitive (neocortex) and emotional parts of the brain (the limbic system) are connected. Therefore, I focused on balancing my life's intellectual and emotional aspects.

Plus, the body and mind team up in this whole process. In simple terms, what we think can strongly influence what we do and how we feel and the other way around, as reflected in holistic health principles.

When our emotions are dysregulated, we have difficulty managing and regulating them effectively. We become vulnerable and face intense emotional responses that are disproportionate to the situation or environment, making it difficult to cope with life's challenges.

People experiencing emotional dysregulation may have trouble modulating their emotional reactions. This condition might manifest as frequent mood swings, outbursts of anger, uncontrollable crying, impulsivity, and difficulty in calming down after being upset.

Emotional dysregulation can contribute to the development or exacerbation of various mental health conditions, including mood disorders, borderline personality disorder, and trauma-related disorders.

Like many people, I grappled with cognitive distortions that resulted in emotional dysregulation. Therefore, I thoroughly investigated it and gained valuable insights from the expanding body of knowledge in the mental health discipline.

For example, discovering the work of psychiatrist Dr. Aaron Beck gave me valuable perspectives as his support in identifying cognitive distortions enabled his patients to think more realistically and made them feel good, favorably changing their emotions and behaviors.

In this story, I provide an overview of my successful approach, hoping it might give you valuable perspectives to understand this challenging situation and take affirmative action to address it.

A Brief Overview of Cognitive Distortions

Cognitive distortions are inaccurate and irrational thoughts and beliefs that can interfere with our perception of reality and influence our emotions, judgments, moods, and behaviors.

These distortions can manifest as self-critical inner dialogue, contributing to lowered self-esteem, heightened anxiety, increased depression, and a host of other negative emotions and emotional disorders.

Common cognitive distortions include personalization, overgeneralization, polarization, disqualifying the positive, mislabeling, catastrophizing, magnifying, minimizing, mind reading, jumping to conclusions, and using must/should statements.

Cognitive biases can also cause cognitive distortions, as I explained in a previous story and provided five steps to deal with them.

Replacing cognitive rigidity with cognitive flexibility can help us overcome cognitive distortions and emotional dysregulation, which, if left unaddressed, can lead to health issues and a diminished quality of life.

A Personal Perspective on Cognitive Distortions

When studying cognition, I have seen firsthand how cognitive distortions can impact our lives. In addition, I have struggled with cognitive distortions myself, so I understand how difficult it can be to overcome them.

One of my problems was personalizing things. When someone made a negative comment, I would take it personally, even if it wasn’t meant that way. For example, if my boss criticized my work, I would wrongly think that he didn’t like me personally and that I was a failure in my profession.

Living with this distortion made it difficult for me to accept criticism and learn from my mistakes. It led to unnecessary stress and unbearable anxiety, disturbing my mood and preventing me from living a joyful life.

One of my problems was all-or-nothing thinking. I used to see things in black and white, with no shades of gray. For example, if I didn’t get a perfect score on a test, I would see myself as a complete failure.

This distortion caused me to fixate on perfectionism, eventually leading to procrastination. My fear of failure compelled me to delay tasks until I was convinced I could complete them flawlessly.

I often dismissed the positive aspects of my life, downplaying my achievements and dwelling on my shortcomings. For instance, when I performed well on a test, I would chalk it up to luck or claim it was too easy.

As a result, these cognitive distortions created obstacles in my pursuit of a balanced life and hindered my progress toward achieving my goals.

Finding Viable Solutions

Fortunately, I had a wise mentor who helped me identify and overcome my cognitive distortions. He taught me how to detect, challenge, and replace them with more realistic and helpful thoughts.

When observing my thoughts, I noticed that they were not always true. Just because I had a negative thought didn’t mean that it was accurate.

However, I learned that we have the power to manage our thoughts. For example, we can challenge them and replace them with more realistic and helpful thoughts.

The first step to overcoming cognitive distortions was to identify them. Once I knew my cognitive distortions, I started challenging them.

For example, when I had a negative thought, I asked myself if it was really true. I wanted to know whether there was any evidence to support the thought.

Instead of thinking, “I’m a failure,” I could think, “I made a mistake, but I can learn from it and do better next time.”

A significant contribution was practicing mindfulness and meditating regularly. Observing my thoughts and being aware of them empowered me.

I used various techniques to identify my thoughts, such as expressive writing and self-talk, by recording them via a tape recorder on those days.

Then, the next critical step was to accept them no matter how disturbing and challenging they were. Mindful living and meditation were the best methods to implement this strategy.

An important step involved taking a closer look at my thoughts and feelings. The easiest and most helpful question I found was asking, ‘Is this really true?’ Then, I dug even deeper by asking myself open-ended questions like ‘Why do I think this way?’ and ‘How can I change these thoughts?

Using both closed and open-ended questions was a game-changer for me in reshaping my thoughts.

When a negative thought like “you’re a failure” popped up, I could counter it by saying, “Sure, I might have failed at that task, and it didn’t go well, but I also learned valuable lessons from it, which will help me succeed next time.

Through methods like cognitive restructuring, mindfulness, consistent meditation, and self-care routines, I found that spotting my cognitive distortions became a quick and natural process.

The most significant breakthrough in overcoming my cognitive distortions came when I delved into the principles of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and put them into practice with guidance from my college mentors.

In addition, intensely reviewing the literature, especially case studies, allowed me to discover helpful strategies and techniques to manage my thoughts, emotions, moods, and behaviors.

I consider myself fortunate to have become self-sufficient in managing my cognitive distortions, but I understand that it may not be achievable for everyone and can be challenging or time-consuming for some.

I have deep empathy and compassion for those facing similar challenges, especially because some of my loved ones have experienced this situation.

For people dealing with intense cognitive distortions, the best solution is to obtain timely professional help from CBT practitioners, psychologists, and qualified therapists who can offer valuable guidance and support.

It took time and effort, but I eventually overcame my cognitive distortions. This accomplishment transformed me into a happier and healthier person as a result.

Takeaways

I’d like to share a few handy tips that worked for me. They are well-documented and customizable solutions. Following these steps helped me rewire my mind, develop healthier thought patterns, manage my emotions, and build better habits.

1 — Observe and identify your thoughts non-judgementally through self-talk, journaling, expressive writing, feedback from others, or other methods that suit your needs.

2 — Accept all thoughts, no matter how distressing they may seem. Then challenge them by asking, “Is this real or true?” and use open-ended questions to explore them and create solution options.

4 — Reframe negative and unpleasant thoughts into positive and pleasant ones using cognitive restructuring which is the process of identifying and changing distorted or irrational thought patterns to promote healthier and more constructive thinking.

5 — Live mindfully, meditate, and work in a flow state focusing on self-care to manage cognitive distortions to gain a better emotional balance.

6 —To achieve resilience, change your mindset focusing on acceptance, hope, realistic optimism, and being grateful for what you have.

7 — By effectively managing cognitive distortions, we can achieve tranquility amidst inner and outer turmoil. By increasing our adversity quotient and making ourselves more resilient we can defeat cognitive distortions and emotioanl dysregulations.

Conclusions

Persistent cognitive distortions might lead to negative emotions, mood swings, and maladaptive behaviors. They can cause us to feel depressed, anxious, guilty, shameful, frustrated, or angry, lowering the quality of life.

With mindful living, it is possible to realize our cognitive distortions. Addressing them can improve health, well-being, and happiness.

Recognizing and managing cognitive distortions is a process and may require time, effort, skill building, patience, and persistence.

If depressive thoughts and anxious feelings keep coming and never leaving, I developed some practical techniques that helped me and my loved ones.

If you have difficulty managing your cognitive biases and distortion with your own resources, you need to obtain professional support from qualified mental health professionals.

They can identify root causes, show blind spots, and teach you coping mechanisms and strategies for overcoming cognitive distortions and fixing emotional dysregulation.

Thank you for reading my perspectives. I wish you a healthy and happy life.

Thank you for reading my perspectives. I wish you a healthy and happy life.

To inform my new readers, I wrote numerous articles that might inform and inspire you. My topics include brain and cognitive function, significant health conditions, longevity, nutrition/food, valuable nutrients, ketogenic lifestyle, self-healing, weight management, writing/reading, science, technology, business, and humor.

I compile my health and wellness stories on my blog, EUPHORIA. My posts do not include professional or health advice. I only document my reviews, observations, experiences, and perspectives to provide information and create awareness.