Title: Am I Being Irrational? 7 Signs Your Thoughts & Fears Are Unfounded
Headings: How To Tell When Your Thoughts Are Irrational
How To Tell When Your Thoughts Are Irrational
1. They Are Based On Catastrophizing
2. They Come From Incorrect Core Beliefs
3. They Involve Mind-Reading Or Attribution Of Thoughts
4. They Demonstrate All-Or-Nothing Thinking
5. They May Be Invasive And Distressing
6. They Involve Personalization
7. They Use Minimizing Or Negative Self-Labeling
The Bottom Line

Content: somebody doesn't respond to your "hello" and you immediately believe, with certainty, that they hate you and you're socially repulsive. Psych Central distinguishes between two kinds of irrational catastrophizing: the reactive, like the example above, and the future-oriented, where we contemplate what's coming and how it will all, inevitably, go horribly wrong. The irrationality comes from the fact that we're not evaluating probabilities correctly: it's far more probable that the person didn't hear our greeting properly, and that we won't in fact end up with a completely destroyed future for no reason. 2. They Come From Incorrect Core Beliefs
One of the key elements in cognitive behavioral therapy is in challenging incorrect core beliefs that lead to what therapy and treatment program Lucida calls "thinking errors ," or irrational thinking. " Core beliefs," explains Amy Wenzel in Modification of Core Beliefs in Cognitive Therapy , "are defined as fundamental, inflexible, absolute, and generalized beliefs that people hold about themselves, others, the world, and/or the future ... When a core belief is inaccurate, unhelpful, and/or judgmental (e.g., 'I am worthless'), it has a profound effect on a person’s self-concept, sense of self-efficacy, and continued vulnerability to mood disturbance. Core beliefs typically center around themes of lovability (e.g., 'I am undesirable'), adequacy ('I am incompetent'), and/or helplessness (e.g., 'I am trapped')." CBT aims to get to the root of these core beliefs, which have often embedded and reinforced themselves over many years, and enable people to recognize how they're distorting evidence and creating irrational responses.