Negative thinking is often faulty

Many negative emotions (depression, anxiety and anger) are produced by automatic thoughts that are inaccurate, irrational, dysfunctional and distorted. A negative thinker frequently fails to recognize that such thoughts are not facts.

Examples of faulty thinking are:

• 
  Overgeneralization: Assuming that one bad experience will always repeat itself. Example: A person is rejected for a date and assumes that no one will ever go out with him /her.
• All-or-nothing thinking: Seeing things as either black or white, with no shades of gray. Example: A person does not perform a task perfectly, therefore he is a total failure.
• Catastrophizing: Exaggerating the negative aspects of a situation and convincing oneself that something is awful, horrible or terrible. In fact, the situation is merely uncomfortable or inconvenient for a limited time period. Example: A person who thinks making a mistake at work will lead immediately to dismissal and on to financial ruin.
• Mind reading: Concluding, with little actual evidence, what another person is thinking or feeling. Example: Assuming someone is angry because he/she failed to say hello when passing on the street.
• Emotional reasoning: Assuming that because one feels a certain way, things really are that way. Example: "If I feel guilty, then I must have done something wrong."