Cognitive Distortions and Why You Should Journal Them

A cognitive distortion is a type of mindset you might get when you are over-thinking 
something. However, instead of being consumed with a thought, you are actually 
distorting it into that never happened or isnt even true. This is often related to people 
who struggle with eating disorders, where their appearance can sometimes be distorted 
from those negative emotions. Journaling can help tremendously with this.

What Happens with Cognitive Distortions

It can sometimes be hard to understand what cognitive distortions are and how they 
might affect you. These can be big or small thoughts, from exaggerating something that 
started out true but has been blown way out of proportion, to telling yourself a negative 
thought that you start to believe is true. Here are some things that might happen if you 
are struggling with cognitive distortions:

You think everything is in black and white  There is no gray area. You either are 
perfect or a complete failure. This creates a lot of anxiety and depression, which may 
exacerbate your eating disorder.

You refuse to see the positive in anything  This is particularly damaging if you have 
something like binge eating disorder or body dysmorphia. These eating disorders are 
closely linked to poor body image and bad self-esteem, so not being able to see the 
good in yourself makes it harder to recover.

You dwell on the smallest thing and refuse to let it go  This is when you think one 
negative thought that then starts to snowball out of control. 

Your severe panic or anxiety over the thoughts consume you  You might notice that 
the negative thoughts you have, even if untrue, will cause anxiety or panic, which 
makes it hard to focus on proper eating disorder recovery.

How Journaling Can Help

One thing you can do for yourself if you have cognitive distortions related to your eating 
disorder or mental health is to start journaling. You are able to expand on these 
thoughts and get to the root of them. Writing about them in great detail lets you see it 
from another perspective, which often makes it more reasonable where you can see 
what is actually happening.

It can also help you discover where your mind tends to go, and hopefully lets you see 
what you can change in your mindset to stop this from consuming you. It is a great 
therapy tool when you have eating disorders.
