The Polarised Thinking Trap
People with the polarised thinking style tend to think about things in very black or white terms where evaluations are assumed to be either at one end of the scale or the other.
“Things are either wrong or if they are not wrong, then they are right.”
Things are either good or bad, the best or the worst and so on.
Polarised thinkers fail to take into account that most ‘possibilities’ exist along a continuum along which many thousands of possible evaluations can be made.
People aren’t either good or bad, sometimes they are good AND sometimes they are bad.
One does not exclude the possibility of the other existing concurrently.
To use polarised thinking grossly over-simplifies the complexity of reality and is a poor model for human variability.
It is also one of the thinking traps that can get in the way of happiness and success.
Polarised Thinking About People’s Weight
If we think about how much people weigh, something that seems to be a modern pre-occupation, then what we know is that people’s weight lies along a continuum.
So, people are not either thin or fat because there are hundreds of thousands of variations of weight that human beings can exist at.
The very lightest a human can be is around a few kilograms (at birth) right the way through to 442 kilograms.
The heaviest human weight ever measured: https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/heaviest-man
There are no universally accepted values for weight that would allow a person to be accurately classified as ‘thin’ or ‘fat’, although the medical profession has made several attempts, most notably the Body Mass Index.
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If you’d like to find out more about polarised tinking and 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.
