Identify & Reframe Cognitive Distortions Using a CBT Guided Journal
Negative thoughts often feel like facts, but in reality, they are usually just automatic patterns our brain falls into. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) helps us break these patterns by identifying “cognitive distortions”—the biased ways our mind perceives reality.
Below is the step-by-step framework we use in our free guided journal in Viven: CBT Guided Journal mobile app to help you navigate these thoughts.
The Guided Process
1. What is a distressing thought that has been bothering you recently?
- e.g., I shouldn’t make any mistakes, or I’ll lose everything.
2. Look for the cognitive distortions this thought might include.
- e.g., Should Statements, Catastrophizing
- Emotional Reasoning
- Mind-Reading
- Catastrophizing
- Overgeneralization
- Labeling
- Black-and-White Thinking
- Personalization
- Filtering
- Fortune Telling
- Magnification / Minimization
- Should / Must Statements
3. How does the distortion help you here?
- e.g., Motivates you to be careful
- Prepares you for disappointment
- Reduces uncertainty
- Helps you express frustration/ sadness/ anger…
- Motivates you
- It is just a habit
- Not sure/ Something else
4. How is this distortion unhelpful?
- e.g., It makes it difficult to try.
5. How can you reframe your automatic thought more objectively?
- e.g., One mistake doesn’t define everything.
In-App Experience
The following screens demonstrate how this framework is integrated into Viven to provide a seamless reflection experience :
Recognizing thinking patterns is a skill that improves with practice. The goal is to notice these distortions as they happen, so they lose their power over our mood.
Taking a few minutes each day to write down and reframe our thoughts helps us stay grounded in reality rather than reacting to a distortion.
Viven provides a simple, structured space to do this daily.
All content is free. Check it out:
AppStore Link: https://apps.apple.com/tr/app/viven-cbt-guided-journal/id6752717356?l=tr
PlayStore Link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rayinformatics.viven
