In CBT, forms of negative thinking are the root of all symptoms. There are ten primary inaccurate thinking patterns, known as cognitive distortions. These are the pieces to solving the anxiety puzzle.

1) All-or-Nothing Thinking. You look at yourself in absolute, black-and-white categories.	6) Magnification or Minimization. You blow things way out of proportion or shrink their importance.
2) Overgeneralization. You view a single negative event as a never-ending pattern of defeat.	7) Emotional Reasoning. You reason from how you feel, such as, "I feel anxious, so I must really be in danger."
3) Mental Filter. You dwell on the negative detail, such as an error you made, and ignore all the things you did right.	8) Should Statements. You criticize your self or other people with "shoulds," "shouldn'ts," "have-to's," etc. For example, "I shouldn't feel so shy and nervous. What is wrong with me?"
4) Discounting the Positive. You insist that your accomplishments or positive qualities don't count.	9) Labeling. You generalize form a single flaw or shortcoming to your entire identity. Instead of saying, "I made a mistake," you label yourself as a "loser."
5) Jumping to Conclusions. You jump to conclusions that aren't warranted by the facts: Mind-Reading. You assume that people are terribly judgmental and are looking down on you. Fortune-Telling. You tell yourself that something terrible is about to happen: "I just know I am going to fail when I take my test next week."	10) Blame. Instead of pinpointing the cause of a problem, you assign blame. Self-Blame. You blame yourself for something you weren't responsible for or beat up on yourself relentlessly whenever you make a mistake. Other-Blame. You blame others and deny your own role in the problem.

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