Cognitive Distortions | How To Manage Them When You’re Highly Sensitive

Dealing with cognitive distortions as a highly sensitive person has been the most challenging battle I’ve faced in my entire life. Nothing tops it – and I’ve gone through some tough times.

 

I’ve always been considered a person who’s very “heady” or cerebral. In other words, I’m always in my head, processing, reflecting,  and thinking about how my actions will affect others and my future.

 

When I’m not doing well, this processing easily turns into ruminating spirals. If you can relate, I’m not surprised, because many HSPs struggle with taming these mental beasts as well, which usually are caused by sneaky distortions that have warped how we’re seeing the world. 

 

So let’s get into how to deal with cognitive distortions as they come up for you as an HSP.

 

Cognitive distortions are thoughts or a way of thinking that’s faulty and not based on reality. Everyone struggles with cognitive bias or distortions at some point (some more than others).

 

Sit With Yourself – Acknowledge Every Thought

We’re good at feeling all the feels as highly sensitive people. It’s easy to be flooded with emotion and get frustrated when we can’t move past it to take action.

 

More often than not, it’s because we’re rushing to overcome it. We’re ready to get past our personal ‘muck’ so we can hurry up and be useful to someone else.

 

Remember that reflection period you like to take as a highly sensitive person? Where you’re accounting for everyone’s feelings and situations outside you’re own to make the “right” decision?

 

Feeling stuck because you’re weighed down by feelings of self-doubt and a general lack of self-compassion will have you frustrated as an HSP. And don’t I know it?

 

We want to be free from it, but we can’t do that if we don’t sit with ourselves first.

 

The overwhelming feelings won’t go away by simply willing it.

 

Giving yourself time to take a beat and acknowledge what’s going on inside your mind and your heart is the first step – and the most important step – to managing and overcoming your cognitive distortions.

 

 

The How-To:

What emotions are you feeling? Write it down.

What thoughts are attached to those feelings? Write it down. Make them two separate columns.

 

 

Cognitive Distortion Patterns – “Where Is It Coming From?”

Our emotions are responses to the thoughts we have. Having your thoughts and emotions laid out in front of you makes it easier to make some connections. So let’s connect the dots.

 

Whatever thoughts are swirling in your mind are invoking an emotional response from you. So if you’ve allowed space for those thoughts and emotions to match up, it’s going to be easier for you to notice the patterns.

 

Understanding your patterns of cognitive distortions highlights where they’re coming from!

 

If you have thoughts of that sounds like “I should be working/doing more than what I am,” that’s the ‘shoulds‘ cognitive distortion. If your cognitive distortions sound like, “If I share my hardships with this person, I’ll ruin the relationship and they won’t like me anymore,” that’s a ‘polarization’ distortion.

 

If you’re unfamiliar with the different types of cognitive distortions, you can find out the many types as well as which ones you fall into within the Highly Sensitive Foundation To Success Bundle.

 

You’ll be able to understand exactly how your cognitive distortions affect you, how to deal with them, and how to cultivate a healthy, positive environment for yourself so you don’t have to succumb to them often. Gain access to the bundle here.

 

To find out where these patterns of distortions are coming from, you want to ask yourself, “When do I usually start thinking this way in the past? Since when did I start thinking like this?”

 

Uncover The Why

This is where you ask yourself “Why?” 3-5 times.

 

If you’ve read my posts on Healing Your Relationship With Yourself, then you know I vouch for this emotionally intelligent practice heavily.

 

Identifying your thoughts and emotions is so important – but if you’ve ever asked yourself “What am I feeling?”, the common responding thoughts are… straight-up noise.

 

Noise is the many emotions spiraling inside you. All meshed together and unidentifiable, responding to each other one after the other.

 

Exercise Self-Compassion

Exercising self-compassion allows all the tension in your body to evaporate. It gives you the chance to relax.

Self-compassion is forgiving, nurturing, and self-soothing – and that’s what you need after battling it out with those relentless, distorted thoughts.

 

Embody Your Growth Mindset

When you’re able to transform every distorted thought into a productive one, you’re able to finally take action.

 

You can move on and make decisions without feeling weighed down or overwhelmed with self-doubt.

 

As highly sensitive people, we feel burdened when we “fail,” but that’s a word that looks different for everyone. It’s unlikely that you actually “failed” at something, and even more unlikely that you’re a “failure.”

 

It’s most likely that your cognitive distortions have painted you an inaccurate picture of yourself and your situation, and that happens to everyone!

 

This was all about how to deal with cognitive distortions as an HSP! 

 

For more guidance on how to overcome your energy leaks to get grounded in your sensitivity, listen to The CalmWithDom Podcast where you can listen to my trainings on the go, or start re-building your relationship with your sensitivity now in The Foundation To Success Bundle.

 

P.S. Listen to the episode below to hear me speak in-depth about the topic of cognitive distortions, some misconceptions, and how to properly protect your energy as an HSP!