03/16/2026
We can all fall into the trap of emotional reasoning-a type of thought distortion that tricks us into believing something is true because we feel a strong emotion when having a specific thought. A couple examples of this are: “Since I feel anxious I must not be able to handle this” or “Because I’m sad no loves or cares about me.”
When these tricks of the mind show up, label your emotion and try thought diffusion by putting a sentence stem in front of the thought: “I’m having the thought that I can’t handle this” and “I’m having the thought that no one loves or cares about me.”
This allows you to put some space between your emotion and thought. Over time the thought will feel less real.
Image: Care Clinic App