Cognitive behavioural interventions in addictive disorders PMC

As the name implies, this distortion involves taking everything personally or assigning blame to yourself without any logical reason to believe you are to blame. For example, a student who labels herself as “an utter fool” for failing an assignment is engaging in this distortion, as is the waiter who labels a customer “a grumpy old miser” if he fails to thank the waiter for bringing his food. Mislabeling refers to the application of highly emotional, loaded, and inaccurate or unreasonable language when labeling. https://ecosoberhouse.com/article/dealing-with-internal-and-external-relapse-triggers/ These tendencies are basically extreme forms of overgeneralization, in which we assign judgments of value to ourselves or to others based on one instance or experience. A sister distortion to mind reading, fortune telling refers to the tendency to make conclusions and predictions based on little to no evidence and holding them as gospel truth. This is an especially malignant distortion since it can facilitate the continuation of negative thought patterns even in the face of strong evidence to the contrary.

Acquire new information that outweighs the dissonant beliefs.

We may engage in behaviors or adopt attitudes to help relieve the discomfort caused by the conflict. Cognitive dissonance is the mental discomfort that results from holding two conflicting beliefs, values, or attitudes. People tend to seek consistency in their attitudes and perceptions, so this conflict causes unpleasant feelings of unease or discomfort. When one learns new information that challenges a deeply held belief, for example, or acts in a way that seems to undercut a favorable self-image, that person may feel motivated to somehow resolve the negative feeling that results—to restore cognitive consonance. Though a person may not always resolve cognitive dissonance, the response to it may range from ignoring the source of it to changing one’s beliefs or behavior to eliminate the conflict. The acute effects of amphetamine, nicotine, and cocaine fit straightforwardly into this scenario.

• The sooner you catch a cognitive distortion and mount a defense against it, the less likely it is to make a negative impact on your life.
• The effects of prenatal tobacco exposure are particularly concerning because so many expectant mothers smoke—by one estimate, over 10 percent in the United States (Hamilton et al., 2007).

Effects of cognitive dissonance

Beck, Burns, and other researchers in this area have developed numerous ways to identify, challenge, minimize, or erase these distortions from our thinking. For example, the internet commenters who spend hours arguing with each other over an opinion or political issue far beyond the point where reasonable individuals would conclude that they should “agree to disagree” are engaging in the “Always Being Right” distortion. To them, it is not simply a matter of a difference of opinion, it is an intellectual battle that must be won at all costs. Another ‘fallacy’ distortion involves expecting others to change if we pressure or encourage them enough. This distortion is usually accompanied by a belief that our happiness and success rests on other people, leading us to believe that forcing those around us to change is the only way to get what we want.

Emotional Development in Childhood: 3 Theories Explained

The participants were informed that their responses would be used solely for academic purposes and would not be shared with third parties. The anonymity and confidentiality of the study were also guaranteed, with no personal identifying information collected. A reward system was implemented to incentivize the participants further to provide honest and thoughtful responses. This reward was intended to thank the participants for their time and effort in completing the survey and to encourage them to answer each question truthfully and to the best of their ability. The use of WeChat red packets as a reward was chosen for their ease of use and accessibility to the participants. Overall, these measures were taken to ensure the data’s quality and accuracy and promote high participation rates.

Adding More Beliefs to Outweigh Dissonant Beliefs

Psychologist Leon Festinger published the book A Theory of Cognitive Dissonance in 1957. Among the examples he used to illustrate the theory were doomsday cult members and their explanations for why the world had not ended as they had anticipated. Many experiments have since been conducted to illustrate cognitive dissonance in more ordinary contexts. However, if a person finds that they have difficulty stopping a behavior or thinking pattern that is causing them cognitive dissonance and addiction distress, they can seek support from a qualified healthcare professional, such as a primary care doctor or therapist. The theory behind this approach is that in order to resolve the dissonance, a person’s implicit beliefs about their body and thinness will change, reducing their desire to limit their food intake. If that same person believes the COVID-19 pandemic is real but refuses to wear a mask, their values and behaviors would contradict each other.

Social pressures

By doing so, you will find greater alignment within yourself and create a more harmonious life. Cognitive dissonance theory, proposed by Festinger, focuses on the discomfort felt when holding conflicting beliefs or attitudes, leading individuals to seek consistency. You may also experience cognitive dissonance when you have situations where friends, family members or coworkers act a certain way that don’t align with your beliefs. You may be pressured into allowing those actions to continue or participate in those actions yourself — and that can leave you with some significant discomfort, so you end up questioning exactly how you should feel about the situation.

2. Structural Equation Model