Cookie Monster wants to eat better! The long-time resident of Sesame Street is ready to eat fewer of those famous chocolate chip cookies. He has talked to his doctor and his famous friends about his diet’s effect on his weight, cholesterol, diabetes risk, energy levels, and bank account! He plans to eat fruit and nuts as snacks instead. Monday goes great. On Tuesday, he “slips” and has some cookies and is feeling as blue as his fur.

 

Now, he’ll never get healthy! Looks like Cookie’s got a case of cognitive distortions. Cognitive distortions, sometimes called Unhelpful Thinking Styles, are chronic thinking patterns that are negative and often untrue. They can damage our self-esteem, and tank our health habits (like sleep, exercise, healthy eating, and connecting with others).

 

The reasons for cognitive distortions are complex and include the ways that evolution shaped the human brain, mental health conditions/chemical imbalances, past experiences, and external influences like culture. Cookie’s therapist describes how social inequality and discrimination can make us feel poorly about characteristics like our gender, race, body shape and type, age, disability status, income and education level and more.

 

Let’s see how a familiar distortion called Black and White Thinking or All-Or-Nothing Thinking can threaten our health. Cookie Monster wants to snack on an apple with cheese, but before long, he’s munching a cookie. He failed! The healthy foods he ate before or will eat after “don’t count” and he’ll need to start fresh tomorrow. He feels depressed and has six more cookies, hoping to feel better.

 

Cookie Monster wants to get help and learn more. After all, he’s a star of Sesame Street, famed for its innovative approaches to education. His appetite for knowledge is even greater than his taste for sweets, so he chats with a nutritionist and his therapist. They explain that most people experience cognitive distortions, and they’re particularly “loud” for people who live with anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder, and the effects of trauma.

 

These biased thought patterns get repeated, become automatic, and reinforce hopelessness and low self-esteem. Cognitive distortions can feel like having Oscar the Grouch on your shoulder.

 

So, Cookie Monster gets to work. He knows that these common distortions can derail his health habits. After all, who’s more likely to repeat a habit? The person who feels they’re growing…. or failing? Cookie Monster and his therapist prepare by imagining the cognitive distortions he might face:

 

Cookie Monster feels hopeless. Big Bird canceled their trip to the supermarket, and Cookie thinks, “My friends don’t support me. I can’t do this alone.” He takes a walk down Sesame Street and passes Oscar the Grouch, sporting a particularly sour frown. “He hates me, he thinks I look dumb.” Cookies feels sluggish and texts his friend, “I’m weak and slow. I’m trying my best, but it doesn’t make a difference. I’ll never be fit.”

 

He skips his next planned walk, and then the next. He compares his bag of berries and nuts to the cute snack boxes he’s seen on Instagram. He tells Grover, “I should buy some nice boxes. Maybe then I’ll be motivated.” He compares the number of cookies he’s had this week and last. He sighs and thinks, “Sure, it’s less, but I’d hoped to do better.”

 

Sound familiar? For most of us, unhelpful thinking styles are as natural as breathing. So, what’s a person (or a muppet) to do? You’ve already tackled the first step: learning about and identifying cognitive distortions. Now, you can notice negative thoughts, and practice reframing them in a positive way.

 

For example, Cookie Monster might reflect on his walk: “Exercise feels different each day. I am walking longer distances, and more often than ever before.” But reframing is hard work! Negative thinking tends to flow from us like water from a cup, while positive thinking needs to be squeezed out like the last bit of toothpaste! Fortunately, practice leads to progress.

 

A healthy mind powers a healthy body. Good mental health is the foundation for the habits that determine physical health, including sleep, eating, movement, and the avoidance or moderation of risky substances. It takes self-compassion and a growth mindset growth mindset to do hard things! If you have a therapist or psychiatrist, like Cookie, talk to them about the cognitive distortions you experience. Getting mental health support can be lifechanging.

 

Ask your primary care doctor to connect you to a therapist in their practice, or call/use the website of your insurance provider to find one. There are also other ways to get support and manage cognitive distortions. Record your daily feelings, beliefs, and concerns. Set a daily phone alarm or a different reminder and make an honest list of what you thought and felt today. You will learn to spot, and challenge, unhelpful patterns of thinking.

 

Read more about cognitive distortions here: here. Search for more videos, podcasts, and books and articles about this topic here. Attend free support groups about mental health and wellness topics.

 

As we embark on a new year, practice self-care by talking back to your inner critic. You deserve happiness and health! Click here for a list of cognitive distortions or google “Harvard, cognitive distortions.” Check out our previous health check on exercise at  here. To view a helpful video entitled, “A GROWTH Mindset vs. a FIXED Mindset With Mental Health,” click on the following link.

 

Claire Garon, MPH, CLC, is a senior health educator at the Office of Community & Population Health at Montefiore Health System