Magnification and minimisation
This is not a diagnosis or a personality trait. If you recognise yourself here, it is an invitation to gently check for other explanations rather than to label yourself.
What it is
The importance of something unpleasant is enlarged, while personal resources, successes or mitigating facts are made smaller.
How it arises and is maintained
Anxiety enlarges the importance of threats, and shame shrinks the importance of one's own resources. The distortion arises when these two processes work at once. It is sustained by a habit of focusing on threat and devaluing one's own strengths, especially when tired.
How it may sound
- «This small mistake cancels out the entire project.»
- «Preparation will not help; what I know is still far too little.»
Soft signs in yourself
- An unpleasant event is described as «huge», «catastrophic».
- Your own resources and past successes appear with the phrase «merely».
- Mitigating circumstances are not taken into account or are devalued.
- After a mistake, mood drops more than the situation warrants.
Questions for a Socratic dialogue
- How large is this mistake on a scale from 1 to 10?
- What resources and past successes am I leaving out right now?
- If this were about a friend, would you rate their mistake the same way?
- What would a fair description be — both of the unpleasant and of the mitigating?
Self-directed exercise
Even out the scale
- Write the unpleasant event and rate its scale from 1 to 10.
- List 2–3 of your own resources or past successes that are being shrunk right now.
- Formulate a thought that describes both the scale of the unpleasant and the scale of the resources.
- Through the day, notice «huge» and «merely» and return to a realistic scale.
Core beliefs it may be linked to
- ««My mistakes are always larger than my successes».»
- ««The threat is more important than my ability to cope with it».»
- ««To minimise the good is to be honest».»
- ««If I do not magnify the danger, I will be defenceless».»