You dwell on the negatives and ignore all the positives.

Example
You receive many positive comments about your presentation to a group of people, but one of them says something mildly critical. You obsess about this reaction for days and ignore all the positive feedback.

You reject positive experiences by insisting they "don't count".

If you do a good job you tell yourself that it wasn't good enough or that anyone could have done as well.

Discounting the positive takes the joy out of life and makes you feel inadequate.

You interpret things negatively when there is no definite evidence to support your conclusion.

Mind reading
Without checking it out you arbitrarily conclude that someone else is reacting negatively to you: "They think I'm an idiot."

Fortune telling
You predict that things will turn out badly. Before a test you may tell yourself, "I'm really going to blow it. What if I flunk?"

If you're depressed you may tell yourself, "I'll never get better."

You assume that your negative emotions necessarily reflect the way things really are: "I feel terrible about going on airplanes. It must be very dangerous to fly."

Or, "I feel guilty. I must be a rotton person."

Or, "I feel angry. This proves I'm being treated unfairly."

Or, "I feel so inferior."

You tell yourself things should be the way you hoped or expected them to be: "I shouldn't have made so many mistakes."

"Should" statements directed against yourself lead to guilt and frustration.

Should statements that are directed against other people or the world in general, lead to anger and frustration: "He shouldn't be so stubborn and argumentative."

Many people try to motivate themselves with shoulds and shouldn'ts, as if they were delinquents who had to be punished before they could be expected to do anything. "I shouldn't eat that doughnut." This usually doesn't work because all those shoulds and musts make you feel rebellious and you get the urge to do just the opposite.

"Must", "ought", and "have to" are similar offenders.

Labelling is an extreme form of all-or-nothing thinking.

Instead of saying, "I made a mistake", you attach a negative label to yourself. "I'm a loser." You might also label yourself "a fool" or "a failure" or "a jerk".

Labelling is quite irrational because you are not the same as what you do. Human beings exist but "fools", "losers" and "jerks" do not. These labels are just useless absractions that led to guilt, anger, anxiety and frustration.

You may also label others. When someone does something that rubs you the wrong way, you may tell yourself: "He's a jerk". Then you feel the problem is with the other person's character instead of with their thinking or behaviour. You see them as totally bad.

Personalisation occurs when you hold yourself personally responsible for an event that isn't entirely under your control.

When a woman received a note that her child was having difficulties at school, she told herself, "This shows what a bad mother I am," instead of trying to pinpoint the cause of the problem so that she could be helpful to her child.

Personalisation leads to guilt, shame and feelings of inadequacy. Some people do the opposite and blame other people or their circumstances for their problems. They overlook ways they might be contributing to the problem.