Natalie, a psychotherapy client, is depressed about a recent breakup with her boyfriend. she believes that the breakup is entirely her fault, and that if she had done things differently, she would not be alone now. this belief best exemplifies the cognitive thought distortion known as
a. all-or-nothing thinking
b. catastrophizing
c. personalization
d. mental filtering

C. Personalization

Explanation:

According to psychology, cognitive distortions are ways in which our mind convinces us of something that isn’t really true.

One type of cognitive distortion is the personalization distortion, this distortion makes people think that everything others do or say is some kind of a personal reaction to them. They also see themselves as the cause of some negative external event that they were not responsible for.

In this example, Natalie blames herself for her breakup and thinks that if she had done things differently she wouldn't be alone now. We can see that she thinks that her boyfriend decision was only based on her actions and she thinks she is the cause of the breakup. Therefore, this would be an example of personalization.

Note:

Catastrophizing means the person thinks the worst thing will occur in the future. In this example, Natalie is thinking about something that happened in the past.

Mental filtering means to take the negative details and magnify them and not take the positive details into account. In this example, Natalie is not only not taking any details but she's only blaming everything on herself.

All-or-nothing thinking means to see things only in the extremes, there's only black or white. They are either perfect or a complete failure. In this case, she doesn't see herself as a complete failure but rather as the cause of her breakup.

true

Explanation: