Overview
Cognitive reframing in modern psychology refers to a shift in mindset that can change the perspective interpreted from a situation. Within Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), cognitive reframing is considered a valuable coping skill to diffuse distressing emotions by finding an equally valid interpretation of the same facts of a situation, generally to shift away from catastrophizing or black-and-white thinking. Here are some basic examples of how cognitive reframing works in practice:
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You notice that some of your friends go to a party without you. An instinctive, unhelpful thought born out of a fear of abandonment might be “my friends didn’t want me to come with them because they’re souring on me.” A reframed thought might be “my friends have relationships and interests outside of me, so it makes sense that they won’t invite me to every single thing they do.”
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You’re texting someone you have a romantic interest in, but they don’t reply to your texts as quickly as you reply to theirs. The unhelpful thought might be “they’re losing interest in me because they don’t like talking to me.” A reframed thought might be “they have a busy life outside of me and they want to reply to me thoughtfully from a position of comfortable focus.”
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Your boss gives you feedback about what you could be doing better on your first day of work. The impulse to catastrophize might lead to thinking “I’m not a good fit for this role and it’s only a matter of time that they find out I’m a fraud.” A smoother reframing might be “my boss probably didn’t expect a new hire to do things perfectly on their first day, and they’re spending time and energy giving me feedback because they intend to keep me on the job.”
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You forget to pay a phone bill in time. An inner critic might say “I’m so irresponsible, I can’t do anything right.” A helpful reframing might be “everyone makes mistakes, so I’m just normal, and I might be able to set reminders next time so it doesn’t happen again.”
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You experience a headache. The tendency to worry (paired with a search on WebMD or consultation with Dr. Google) can lead to the thought “I have brain cancer.” A reframing that can ground someone from this state of mind is “headaches are normal and happen all the time because of simple things like dehydration, stress, or lack of rest.”
Cognitive reframing, when done right, isn’t about gaslighting yourself away from realistic problems through toxic positivity, though certainly a lot of implementations of cognitive reframing exercises lend themselves to that. Ideally, it’s about neutralizing black-and-white thinking, catastrophizing, and analysis paralysis by remembering that the worst-case interpretation of a scenario isn’t necessarily true. There are other interpretations and possibilities than what our preexisting schemas might set up for us.