A cognitive distortion is a fact or set of facts that seem true to a person with borderline traits, but not to anyone else familiar with the situation.
a borderline mother may interpret a child's father tickling her as being sexual abuse.
These constructs are necessary for the borderline personality to maintain their world view. They are a defense mechanism. They can include projection, black and white thinking, reasoning with emotions, exaggerated fears and just plain old fashioned bizarre random thought processes like jumping to conclusions.
You left an unlabelled phone number on the table, and when your wife called the number a woman answered. Your wife hangs up on her immediately without asking who she is. Therefore, in her borderline mind, you are having an affair.
One of the important things to know is that your significant other actually believes these cognitive distortions, to the point that they would probably pass a lie detector test.
Your job is to hold on to your own view of reality in the face of these distortions. You know what the truth is, trust in your own view of the universe. Don't allow these distorted viewpoints to become yours, that's brainwashing. You don't need to be brainwashed in addition to the other things you are going through.
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Disclaimer: The information on this site (http://www.bpd411.org) is based on personal experiences of the authors and members of our e-mail mailing list. It is NOT meant to replace professional advice or take the place of counseling, therapy or additional personal research.
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