Improving Mental Health: Disqualifying the Positive

This post is part of a series about cognitive distortions I've dealt with and how changing them helps improve my mental health. Of the sixteen most common cognitive distortions (read: Cognitive Distortions: When Your Brain Lies to You to see all sixteen), I'll be writing on the handful of distortions that have been most helpful for me to tackle.

In my last post on cognitive distortions, I wrote about the mental filter distortion and how to combat it. Similar to the mental filter disorder is disqualifying the positive. The PositivePsychologyProgram website defines disqualifying the positive as:

.... [acknowledging] positive experiences but reject[ing] them instead of embracing them. For example, a person who receives a positive review at work might reject the idea that he is a competent employee and attribute the positive review to political correctness or to his boss simply not wanting to talk about his employee’s performance problems. This is an especially malignant distortion since it can facilitate the continuance of negative thought patterns even in the face of lots of evidence to the contrary.

Disqualifying the positive is an easy trap to fall into. Instead of attributing a positive event or experience to one's own behavior, it is instead easy to attribute it to something out of one's control. For example: A friend tells you they appreciate something you said or did for her. Disqualifying the positive would mean you tell yourself she just said something positive to you to be nice and that she didn't really mean it.

Though I deal with this distortion at times, I've learned to combat it by taking positive feedback to heart. Instead of believing that I received a good review or acknowledgement at work simply because of my friendly and outgoing personality, I've tried instead to think about what I could have done at work to receive that positive feedback.

If you're like me, this distortion can be a tough one to catch. Remember: if you have something positive happen to you, don't automatically assume that what happened was out of your control or happened by chance. Take ownership of your positive experiences. Feel good about what you accomplished. Always diminishing or dismissing positive events can lead to depression, anxiety, or cynicism. 

Thanks for reading.