Cognitive distortion | EPFL Graph Search

Are you an EPFL student looking for a semester project?

Work with us on data science and visualisation projects, and deploy your project as an app on top of GraphSearch.

A cognitive distortion is an exaggerated or irrational thought pattern involved in the onset or perpetuation of psychopathological states, such as depression and anxiety. Cognitive distortions are thoughts that cause individuals to perceive reality inaccurately. According to Aaron Beck's cognitive model, a negative outlook on reality, sometimes called negative schemas (or schemata), is a factor in symptoms of emotional dysfunction and poorer subjective well-being. Specifically, negative thinking patterns reinforce negative emotions and thoughts. During difficult circumstances, these distorted thoughts can contribute to an overall negative outlook on the world and a depressive or anxious mental state. According to hopelessness theory and Beck's theory, the meaning or interpretation that people give to their experience importantly influences whether they will become depressed and whether they will experience severe, repeated, or long-duration episodes of depression. Challenging and changing cognitive distortions is a key element of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). Cognitive comes from the Medieval Latin cognitīvus, equivalent to Latin cognit(us), 'known'. Distortion means the act of twisting or altering something out of its true, natural, or original state. In 1957, American psychologist Albert Ellis, though he did not know it yet, would aid cognitive therapy in correcting cognitive distortions and indirectly helping David D. Burns in writing The Feeling Good Handbook. Ellis created what he called the ABC Technique of rational beliefs. The ABC stands for the activating event, beliefs that are irrational, and the consequences that come from the belief. Ellis wanted to prove that the activating event is not what caused the emotional behavior or the consequences, but the beliefs and how the person irrationally perceive the events that aids the consequences. With this model, Ellis attempted to use rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT) with his patients, in order to help them "reframe" or reinterpret the experience in a more rational manner.

About this result

This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.

Related publications (33)

Related people (1)

Related units (8)

Related concepts (13)

Related lectures (7)

Personality disorder

Personality disorders (PD) are a class of mental disorders characterized by enduring maladaptive patterns of behavior, cognition, and inner experience, exhibited across many contexts and deviating from those accepted by the individual's culture. These patterns develop early, are inflexible, and are associated with significant distress or disability. The definitions vary by source and remain a matter of controversy.

Rational emotive behavior therapy

Rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT), previously called rational therapy and rational emotive therapy, is an active-directive, philosophically and empirically based psychotherapy, the aim of which is to resolve emotional and behavioral problems and disturbances and to help people to lead happier and more fulfilling lives. REBT posits that people have erroneous beliefs about situations they are involved in, and that these beliefs cause disturbance, but can be disputed and changed.

Cognitive dissonance

In the field of psychology, cognitive dissonance is the perception of contradictory information and the mental toll of it. Relevant items of information include a person's actions, feelings, ideas, beliefs, values, and things in the environment. Cognitive dissonance is typically experienced as psychological stress when persons participate in an action that goes against one or more of those things. According to this theory, when two actions or ideas are not psychologically consistent with each other, people do all in their power to change them until they become consistent.

Bebras tasks are considered to develop Computational Thinking (CT) and are currently used for this purpose in many studies. However, the relationship between Bebras tasks and CT is recent and, given the scarcity of validated instruments for assessing CT th ...

New York2024

Point clouds are effective data structures for the rep- resentation of three-dimensional media and hence adopted in a wide range of practical applications. In many cases, the portrayed data is expected to be visualized by humans. After acquisition, point c ...

2023

Neuroengineering of hallucinations through fMRI neurofeedback: Understanding and modulating neural dynamics for the control of hallucinations in health and disease

Herberto Dhanis Pedro De Barros Camacho

Recent years have seen considerable progress in understanding brain function, and in modulating it through real-time fMRI neurofeedback (NF). Inspired by these advances, paired with the unique possibility of inducing the clinically relevant Presence Halluc ...

EPFL2023

Neuroprosthetics: Hallucinations and Self Distortions

Explores hallucinations, self distortions, cognitive decline, and altered sensorimotor processing in neuroprosthetics.

Interactive Session: Learning Strategies and Cognitive Reflection HUM-432: How people learn: Designing Learning Tools I

Delves into learning strategies, cognitive reflection, and teaching impact on student performance.

Cognitive Processes: Learning and Thinking HUM-432: How people learn: Designing Learning Tools I

Covers teaching approaches, cognitive processes, and learning strategies, including left-brain thinking, concept mapping, and cooperative learning significance.