Common Anxiety “Thinking Traps” and How to Break Free

Anxiety can make our minds play tricks on us, often leading to unhelpful thinking patterns. These “Thinking Traps” distort reality and can cause us to snowball and feel even more anxious. The good news is that once we learn how to recognize these traps, we can start to work through them and ease our anxiety.

Here are four common thinking traps, how to recognize them, and what to do to break free.


1. All or Nothing Thinking

This trap makes you see things as either black or white, with no middle ground. For example, you might think, “If I don’t do this perfectly, I’ve failed.” This kind of thinking can make you feel discouraged or like nothing you do is good enough.

How to work through it: Try to focus on progress, not perfection. Ask yourself, “What is something positive in what I’ve done?”.


2. Catastrophizing

Catastrophizing is when your mind jumps to the worst possible outcome, even if it’s unlikely. For instance, if you fail one test or do poorly on an assignment you may think “I’m going to fail this entire class.”

How to work through it: Stop and ask yourself, “What’s the most likely outcome?” or remind yourself that this is just one test, and you’ll have multiple opportunities to improve.


3. Overgeneralizing

When you overgeneralize, you take one bad experience and assume it will happen again and again. For example, if you fail a test, you might think, “I always fail at everything,” even though it’s just one test.

How to work through it: Remind yourself that one event doesn’t define all future experiences. Challenge your thoughts by asking, “Is this really true every time, or was it just this one situation?”.


4. Mind Reading

Mind reading happens when you assume you know what others are thinking, often in a negative way. You might think, “They must think I’m stupid,” or “They don’t like me,” even though there’s no real evidence for this.

How to work through it: Instead of assuming, ask yourself, “Do I have proof for this thought?” or “Could there be another explanation?”.


Thinking traps can increase anxiety, but recognizing them is the first step toward changing your thinking patterns. By questioning your thoughts and finding more balanced ways of thinking, you can reduce anxiety and feel more in control of your emotions.