Distortion check

The distortion check is a psychoeducation tool. The client notices a thought, opens this worksheet, and runs the thought through a grid of eleven common patterns to see which ones fit. The clinical work is the recognition itself — “oh, that’s me doing the mind-reading thing again” — which over time builds the metacognitive skill of catching distortions in the moment. Burns published the original list in Feeling Good in 1980. The labels have become standard CBT vocabulary; Rivet uses eleven of them in plain language.

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What’s in the grid

A 2-column grid (single column on phones) of eleven boolean items, with a free-text “What you noticed” at the bottom. The client can check as many as fit. There’s no scoring — the distortions checked are the clinical signal.

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How the list was scoped

Burns’ original ten distortions plus the variants that have entered modern CBT vocabulary, narrowed to eleven that don’t overlap. A few decisions:

• Mind reading and fortune telling are split into separate items, matching modern CBT usage. The original Burns list combined them under “jumping to conclusions.”
• Magnification and minimization are combined per Burns’ “binocular trick” — they’re the same distortion seen from two sides.
• Labeling and mislabeling are combined into one item.
• Personalization and blame are combined into “Self-blame.”
• Always being right and fallacy of fairness are not included — they’re popular-press additions, not in Burns 1980 and not validated in the CBT literature.

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When to use it

In-session, as a quick assessment during thought-record work — “which of these does that thought sound like?” The grid surfaces the pattern faster than asking the client to recall a list from memory. Between sessions, as a recognition aid. Clients new to CBT often need the list visible to make the connection between a thought and a distortion. After 4-6 sessions of practice, most clients can name the distortion without the worksheet. It pairs naturally with the thought record. The distortion check identifies the pattern; the thought record does the restructuring work.

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In-session mechanics

From Templates → Distortion check, the renderer drops into the right pane. The eleven items show as a 2-column tappable grid. The client (or you, on the client’s behalf) checks the ones that fit, writes a sentence in the “What you noticed” box, and you save. The grid is short enough that the whole worksheet fits on one screen on a laptop — no scrolling — which keeps the conversation flowing.

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Citation

Burns, D. D. (1980). Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy. William Morrow. Burns, D. D. (1989). The Feeling Good Handbook. William Morrow. The distortion labels are short descriptive titles, which are not copyrightable. Rivet’s definitions are original — written by paraphrasing the underlying clinical phenomenon, not lifted from Burns’ canonical definitions or any proprietary worksheet.

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When not to use it

• First sessions before the cognitive model is introduced. The list presupposes the client understands that thoughts can be distorted patterns, not direct readouts of reality. Without psychoeducation, the worksheet can read as accusatory.
• Acute distress in the moment. The pattern-recognition work is cognitive; do a grounding piece first if the client is too flooded to engage.
• Clients who get stuck in “every thought is a distortion.” A few clients over-apply the framework and start invalidating accurate perceptions. Re-introduce the idea that distortions are patterns, not a verdict that every thought is wrong.

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