Now that you are familiar with all 10 cognitive distortions and maybe even using the Triple Column technique I discussed earlier, wouldn’t it be convenient to be able to remember all 10, right off the top of your head? As it turns out, it’s quite easy!
When learning to read music, people use this simple sentence to remember the notes in the treble clef (which are E, G, B, D, and F): Every Good Boy Does Fine. We can use a similar mnemonic for the 10 distortions:
All Optimists Meander Down Jagged Mountains Expecting Splendid Little Prizes
Each word of that sentence begins with the same letter as one of the 10 distortions:
- A – All or Nothing Thinking
- O – Over-generalizing
- M – Mental Filter
- D – Disqualifying the Positive
- J – Jumping to Conclusions (Fortune Teller, Mind Reader)
- M – Magnification (Catastrophizing)
- E – Emotional Reasoning
- S – Should Statements
- L – Labeling
- P – Personalization
So, when you’re trying to remember the 10 distortions, simply say to yourself, “All Optimists Meander Down Jagged Mountains Expecting Splendid Little Prizes.” If you’d like to make it more memorable, you could invent your own sentence, or just change mine around ‘til it suits you. For example, if you’re a foodie, you could change the last three words, like so: “All Optimists Meander Down Jagged Mountains Expecting Savory Little Pizzas.”
Mmm… Pizza…
Oh, thank you for this! I always find myself maybe using only 5 out of the 10 cognitive distortions when stopping to analyze everyday thinking because I couldn’t remember all 10. This should be a big help.
You’re quite welcome!
Foodie? Pizza? So, what, I’m *fat* now?? (sob)
Cognitive distortion?