Help clients explore the labeling cognitive distortion, whereby individuals assign fixed, global traits to themselves or others, often leading to strong negative emotions.
Offers theory, guidance, and prompts for mental health professionals. Downloads are in Fillable PDF format where appropriate.
Includes client-friendly guidance. Downloads are in Fillable PDF format where appropriate.
Identifying negative automatic thoughts and reappraising unhelpful thinking is a core element of cognitive therapy. Teaching clients to recognize the presence and nature of distortions is a useful way of introducing this skill – clients are often quick to identify with the concept of ‘unhelpful thinking styles’ and to recognize their habitual biases. Labeling (sometimes referred to as ‘negative global evaluations’) is an extreme form of overgeneralization. It is characterized by assigning fixed, global traits to the self or others, usually in the form of pejorative, single-word labels (e.g. "stupid", "useless", "disgusting").
The Labeling information handout forms part of the cognitive distortions series, designed to help clients and therapists to work more effectively with common thinking biases.
Cognitive distortions, cognitive biases, or ‘unhelpful thinking styles’ are characteristic ways in which our thoughts can become biased. This resource helps clients:
Negative self-labeling contributing to feelings of worthlessness.
Harsh self-labels related to performance and perceived failure.
Negatively labeling internal experiences (e.g., "this sensation is unbearable").
Negatively labeling other people.
Explain what cognitive distortions are.
Explore whether the client experiences labeling thoughts.
Help clients recognize when labeling thoughts arise.
Use techniques such as looking for variations in behavior to reduce labeling.
Catching automatic thoughts and reappraising cognitions is a fundamental aspect of traditional cognitive therapy (Beck et al., 1979; Beck, 1995; Kennerley, Kirk, & Westbrook, 2007). Identifying cognitive biases often helps introduce this concept, as clients typically find it easy to understand and relate to the idea of "unhelpful thinking styles." They can quickly learn to recognize these biases in their own automatic thoughts. Once clients have identified these biases, they can be taught to evaluate the accuracy of their automatic thoughts and draw new conclusions.
Labeling, sometimes referred to as "negative global evaluations," is an extreme form of overgeneralization and a common cognitive distortion or "unhelpful thinking style." It involves assigning fixed, global traits to oneself or others, usually in the form of negative, single-word labels (Leahy, 2017).
Labeling is often self-perpetuating. When individuals label themselves or their experiences as entirely "good" or completely "bad," they tend to focus exclusively on characteristics that align with the label, while ignoring contradictory evidence (Tolin, 2016). Beck and colleagues (1979) also note that abstract, global characterizations are challenging to address in therapy. When the therapist and client shift their focus from global judgments to specific problems, identifying solutions becomes much easier.
