Black and white thinking

Exclusionary thinking or Dichotomous thinking or borderline thinking are all different names for our topic today:

A person who falls under this error of thinking sees the whole world in two colors or in two fixed versions, either white or black. He sees himself as either white or black, either successful or unsuccessful, either smart or stupid, either productive or completely unproductive. And he sees people with the same principle, either absolutely right or absolutely wrong, either his life partner is perfect or a very bad person, looking at life situations from his point of view as either completely harmful or completely beneficial, either bad situations in everything in them or beautiful in everything in them.

For example, if he goes through a health problem or gets sick, he sees his health condition as completely finished forever, or he sees that there is no disease and he does not even need treatment. If he goes through an emotional separation such as divorce, for example, the person sees that this experience or situation is the worst thing he has ever been through or the best thing he has ever been through, so black and white thinking are equally unequal.

The importance of awareness of the error of this thinking and its danger:

The reality of life is not black or white, but rather gray and carries all other colors. This type of thinking appears on family and friends when it is associated with an achievement or something they are trying to achieve, but nothing happened and they did not succeed in it, such as job interviews, for example, if he is not accepted, his thinking becomes as follows: I will not be accepted for any job in the future. Or if he creates a project and loses it, his thinking becomes that he cannot manage the business or open another project in the future, but if he succeeds in it and the thinking becomes as follows: Everything my hands touch turns into gold, we conclude that white thinking is the pinnacle of success, the pinnacle of intelligence, the pinnacle of strength, and the pinnacle of the ability to do anything. The exact opposite is black thinking, which is the pinnacle of failure, the pinnacle of stupidity, and the pinnacle of weakness. Therefore, awareness must be raised about the psychological aspect, that we must tend more towards moderation instead of this type of abnormal thinking.

What is the relationship between white and black thinking and psychological disorders?

Black and white thinking exists in more than one problem and psychological disorder, but it differs from one person to another according to the nature of his dealings and the work of his brain when there is a psychological disorder or cognitive distortion and an error in thinking such as black and white thinking, errors in thinking and cognitive distortions are many and are called distortions because they lead to us seeing reality, ourselves and others as well in a distorted way and all of them are equally unequal

And examples of some psychological disorders associated with black and white thinking

Depression

A person suffering from depression often uses the same abnormal disturbed thinking, but applies it by seeing himself as black, his past as black, and his future as black. There is something called clinical depression, in which the person becomes unable to see the future. When asked how he sees his future, he answers that he does not see it at all, but he sees people and the world around him as white, he sees them as successful and normal, and he sees himself as having all the flaws and that he is going through all the problems, his relationship is a failure, his past is bad, he sees that all his achievements have no Values ​​and this leads to belittling himself and glorifying others because he sees himself as black and sees everything around him as white. Bipolar disorder:

It is one of the psychological disorders in which the person has mood swings from extreme low to high. Bipolar disorder is a mood disorder, i.e. the fluctuations that occur between high mood and a positive view of himself and the world, energy and creativity, as well as an exaggerated acceleration of thoughts, as well as a strong desire to talk and excessive energy that can sometimes appear in some people in a different way, especially between males and females, then a decrease in mood, so energy decreases and movement weakens, extreme doubt, a very negative view of life and an inability to concentrate, lack of energy to do any normal activities such as meeting others or even work, and the desire for isolation. We see in this disorder the big difference between mood changes. Black and white thinking is associated with bipolar disorder in mood swings. When a person is in his high mood, which is one of the two poles, the person sees himself, life and others in an exaggerated white way, and it can sometimes reach the point of having what is called the grandeur delusion or Delusions of grandeur and self-aggrandizement, and when the mood drops and he enters the depressive phase, he sees himself, the world around him, and others in a black light, so he sees himself as a failure and cannot achieve anything. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD):

There is another disorder in which black and white thinking appears, such as ADHD, in which black and white thinking appears through the inability to adapt to normal life matters. He sees the things he can do, which are often enjoyable for him, as white. For example: a young man who loves to drive cars recklessly or play dangerous sports, he sees that in white because he has the ability to do it. As for the executive matters that he is not able to do or accomplish, such as: studying or arranging the house and keeping his room clean or arranging his priorities, all of this is difficult for him and not enjoyable. If he is afflicted with ADHD, he sees those things in black and believes that the problem lies in the things themselves, but the truth is that part of the problem itself is the unhelpful thinking pattern, which is black and white thinking.

Addiction:

Also, black and white thinking plays a very big role in addiction. The addicted person sees that his life and abilities without this substance are black, so he is weak, a failure, and unsocial. We see this more clearly in people addicted to alcohol and alcoholics. Alcohol dissolves a type of anxiety. If a person has a degree of anxiety in dealing with others when drinking alcohol, he becomes social and confident and has the willingness to do some things that he had doubts that he could not do before alcohol. Here, he sees himself and his qualities when taking this substance as a productive and social person. When he does not take this substance, he sees himself as a black, unproductive person with weak abilities.