Overgeneralization is a cognitive distortion where an individual is inclined to making a single event his/her reality. Such people see never-ending negative patterns in all events irrespective of any evidence to the contrary. A classic illustrative example is a student’s failure to perform and his subsequent projection of himself as a failure in all his endeavors operationally defining the term “Overgeneralization” even when the reality is constructed around successes. Such mental frameworks are detrimental as they trample the notion of success and greatly contribute to mental health issues such as anxiety and depression. The term overgeneralization was first defined in cognitive account of depression from where it later sprouted in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). Overgeneralization is indeed overused and more often than not is misplaced to any negative circumstance. Sometimes positive generalized instances do exist, such as thinking on a single success, ‘I can do anything and everything’. CBT, like many other psychotherapeutic programs, attempts to highlight ways in which individuals could modify such overgeneralization attempts to more rationally constructed and balanced arguments. It is with the substitution of overgeneralized elements with rigid, rational, and evidence oriented elements, where a more viable thought framework can be constructed. Self-acknowledged instances of overgeneralization do serve as a path towards breaking a negative thought and emotion cycle and greatly improve individual resilience.
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