Emotional reasoning: what it is and what are its consequences

Do you know what it is to feel a reality intensely without any basis to support it? Then you know firsthand what is involved in one of the most perplexing psychological problems, a common problem known as emotional reasoning.

Emotional reasoning is a term that attempts to describe a particular type of cognitive distortion. This term was first used in the 70s by Aaron Beck, the founder of Cognitive Therapy.

According to Beck, every time someone comes to the conclusion that their emotional reaction defines their reality, emotional reasoning occurs. Thus, any observed evidence is discarded or relegated to the background in favor of the supposed “truth” that is shaped by one’s own feelings. Furthermore, Beck believed that this reasoning originated in negative thoughts, which were also involuntary, uncontrollable or automatic.

Feelings are not facts

Emotional reasoning assumes that what you feel must be true (Ex. If you feel sad, it must be true that fortune does not smile on you, that you are unfortunate). And while it’s often helpful to get in touch with your own feelings, what you’re feeling can be quite different from what’s actually happening.

The strength of the feeling creates conviction, which is normally maintained until the emotional storm begins to fade. . When we use emotional reasoning, we believe automatic thoughts that cause emotional distress and then try to reason based on our feelings.

Therefore, Emotional reasoning generally distorts and colors reality with a negative brush – it can also do so with a positive brush, but in this article we are not going to focus on these cases. A brush that integrates perfectly into our perfection, without us being able to notice its influence, so that at no time do we question whether what we understand to be happening is really true, if it is manipulated by us.

Thinking emotionally can sabotage your present

Emotional reasoning is a type of reasoning that is misleading, because it is based on feelings, and feelings reflect thoughts and beliefs, not realities. For example, we have all felt stupid at some point. But does that mean we are idiots?

No! It is a distorted feeling and, therefore, the derived emotions are not valid to justify us being really idiots. The same thing happens when, for example, you feel overwhelmed or hopeless about something. These feelings do not imply that your problems are impossible to solve and, therefore, all is lost.

Emotional reasoning has a common side effect: procrastination. If you feel like you’re going to fail at something, you’ll probably put it off or not even try. Procrastination gets in the way of making healthy decisions around self-care.

When faced with the certainty of something, the natural reaction is not to fight to avoid or eliminate it, but rather we abandon ourselves to that reality perceived and assumed as real. As a consequence, that perceived reality finally becomes reality in most cases.

Emotional reasoning and depression

Emotional reasoning plays a fundamental role in almost all depressions. Because things feel so negative, a depressed person assumes that they really are. It does not occur to them to challenge the validity of the perception their feelings create.

Depressed people often end up reasoning emotionally. For example, they may engage in filtering and focusing on a negative aspect within a very positive outcome precisely because they are also navigating a negative frame of mind. On the other hand, it doesn’t matter if they actually have any power to influence your situation, because this fact will be overlooked as long as emotional reasoning prevails.

One of the problems that arises is that, in reality, emotional reasoning is a learned pattern, since many people reason like this. And, although emotional reasoning is not to blame for depression, the pattern of thinking makes it very difficult to combat it when you suffer from depression.

And it is that emotional reasoning is very common. We like to think that we make logical decisions when in reality we do not, because it is easier to let ourselves be carried away by our feelings.

In fact, Because of the way the brain is wired, it is much easier to make a decision based on feeling than one based on facts. We don’t tend to look for facts to support our conclusions; We only accept them because it is easier.

Change your limiting beliefs and stop emotional reasoning

The main problem with thinking errors, those that come into play in emotional reasoning, is that Once we decide that our emotions are facts, we stop looking for alternative explanations to explain any situation. That is why they become terribly limiting, as well as accusatory.

To avoid this, every time you notice that emotional reasoning takes over your thinking, try stopping for a few seconds and consider the following:

Take note of your thoughts and, if you detect emotional reasoning, consider that These feelings may have little to do with what is happening around you. and think objectively about it.Put on your “tranquility glasses.” Ask yourself if they would think about the current situation differently if you were much calmer. Try to examine the evidence and decide whether the emotions you are experiencing are appropriate and understandable given the real situation. Give the emotions time to dissipate. Emotions can fade reasonably quickly, so give yourself some time and then re-evaluate your conclusions once the emotional “sting” wears off. It’s easy to discover a different perspective once you’ve calmed down.

Don’t lose sight of the fact that emotional reasoning is a mental deception, an illusion that appears when we have difficulty managing our own emotions that are fed by feelings. But emotions, no matter how negative they are, are not bad in themselves, but are there to help us survive.

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