All About Thinking Traps and How to get out of them with Psychological Therapy & Counselling

What are Thinking Traps?
Most people won’t spend much time mulling over the pros and cons of the way that they think, but if you do want to change something about yourself that seems to be out of your control, then it might be a good idea!
One of most important things that you can learn about yourself is that your thoughts, attitudes and beliefs have the most significant impact on the way that you interpret the world around you and how you feel about what’s going on.
If you feel excessively bad than the chances are that you are thinking ‘badly’, or as we say, in an unhelpful way.
Most people don’t deliberately think like this and in most cases will be unaware that this is what’s going on!
Thinking traps are ‘slips’ in your thinking that everybody makes from time to time and in the same way that ‘spurious’ programmes on your computer make your computer run slowly or inaccurately, thinking traps limit your ability to make an ‘accurate’ assessment of your own experiences.

Thinking traps can lead you to:
- Get the wrong end of the stick.
- Jump to conclusions.
- Assume the worst.
and effectively get ‘in the way’ leading to ‘distortions’ of what is actually happening or has happened.
The good news is that no matter how long you have been falling into these thinking traps, you can always change them.
Common Thinking Traps
Here we list the most common (but not necessarily ALL) thinking traps that we encounter with our clients:
- Catastrophic Thinking – Making mountains out of molehills.
- Fortune Telling – Trying to predict the future.
- Mind Reading – I know what you’re thinking!
- Emotional Reasoning – Feelings aren’t facts.
- Overgeneralising – Always, Never and Everybody.
- Labelling – Successful / Failure.
- Imperative Thinking – I need to, I have to and I must.
- Disqualifying the positives – I didn’t really deserve that Nobel Prize.
- Personalisation – it’s always my fault when things go wrong.
- Polarised Thinking – Ignoring the middle-ground.
Most of us will recognise at least some of these thinking traps as things we do everyday, but by learning to identify these ‘thinking styles’ in our everyday experience we give ourselves the chance to take affirmative action by learning the tools and techniques to change them.
If you’d like to learn how to identify and then change your own thinking traps, then don’t hesitate to get in touch to arrange an initial consultation with us to discuss the options available.

Arrange your FREE initial consultation here.
If you’d like to find out more about overcoming thinking traps or recovering from any of your mental health problems then why not arrange a free initial consultation with us.
During this consultation we will discuss your particular issues and the different types of mental health counselling we offer (including Cognitive Behavioral Therapy – CBT) without you having to commit to any counselling going forward.
The consultation lasts around 50 minutes and is a great opportunity to meet with either Paul or Joan and decide if you would like to proceed with any support.
Applied Psychology Solutions
If you’d like to learn how to overcome thinking traps but dislike the idea of having “therapy”, then why not learn how to change the way you make sense of your experiences and the World around you with the CORE Programme.
If you believe that your problems are the result of what has happened to you and not because there is something wrong with you, then this is the solution you’ve been looking for.
Counselling Locations
We offer counselling to overcome thinking traps for people living in:
- Wombourne
- Wolverhampton
- West Midlands
- Shropshire
- South Staffordshire
- Telford
- Shrewsbury
You can also access our services around the World using online therapy with Paul.