How to overcome thinking errors

How thinking errors contribute to anxiety in social situations

For individuals suffering with social anxiety, social situations can be a hugely overwhelming experience. Have you ever attended a social event, for example, a party or dinner, needed to engage in public speaking at work or for a presentation, or perhaps been on a date, only to experience blushing, trembling, self-consciousness, avoiding eye contact, trouble speaking? Or perhaps after attending the event you are ruminating and playing it over in your head? Or perhaps even avoiding that situation altogether? We all experience anxiety in different ways and it can cause severe distress and negative impact to our wellbeing.

Whether we are aware or not, the negative symptoms are often caused by excessive worry about being negatively judged or humiliated by others. This is why it is important to be aware of cognitive distortions, also known as thinking errors. Thinking errors are essentially unhelpful, irrational and self-defeating ways of thinking, and can severely impact our emotions, behaviours and feelings. There are several thinking errors that are typical in such individuals, and we shall take a detailed look at these one by one.

Mind Reading

We know we are engaging in mind-reading when we assume the thoughts of others. Such thoughts are usually negative and can be especially strong if we have adopted a negative self-perception/self-image of ourselves. An example would be when we are entering the gym, doing a workout or joining a group activity, and we might automatically assume what others are thinking of us, or assume they are judging our appearance and behaviour.

Fortune telling

Fortune telling is when we are predicting the future, of what might play out, if we say or do something. Perhaps we are afraid that if we join a Zumba class and do the moves wrong, then we will be badly criticised and laughed at, or make a fool of ourselves.

Catastrophising

It can be useful in these moments to consider such scenarios happening and evaluate the evidence for our worst-case scenario happening, as we can too often engage in catastrophising.

Catastrophising is when we anticipate worst-case scenarios. For example, if we do the moves wrong, how likely is it that we would be laughed at and stared at, everybody is usually in the same boat and learning just as you are. Evaluating our “what ifs” can help us to take a different stance on our thinking to evaluate just whether our worst-case scenarios are as bad as what we initially thought.

Becoming aware of our own thinking, and in particular negative automatic thoughts, is key in starting to change how you feel. Engaging in mindfulness practice can help us to bring greater awareness of our own thoughts and create a distance from them, realise how our thoughts are our own and not the thoughts of others.

When you are able to identify negative and unhelpful thoughts that are holding you back you will be able to understand that the way you perceive yourself is not necessarily the way that others perceive or think of you.

Through awareness of our thinking errors, we can spot the negative chain of sequences that occur and learn to adopt positive cognitions that can help us to feel better and enhance our performance, behaviour and self-esteem when going into those social situations.

Discover the power of hypnotherapy for yourself. Get in touch to talk about how I can help you, or book a free consultation.

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Unleashing Freedom

Unleashing Freedom empowers you to break free from anxiety and limiting beliefs through practical, evidence-based hypnotherapy, so you can step boldly beyond your comfort zone and live life with genuine confidence and independence.