Emotional reasoning

Emotional reasoning is a cognitive distortion consisting of taking feelings as evidence of truth: if I feel a certain way, reality must be consistent with how I feel. 'I feel guilty, therefore I must have done something wrong'; 'I feel anxious, therefore something terrible must be happening'; 'I feel worthless, therefore I must be worthless.'

Burns (1980) described emotional reasoning as one of the most insidious cognitive distortions because it uses the emotional system — which we perceive as intimate and authentic — as a source of truth. The person trusts their feelings as an infallible barometer of reality, without considering that emotions may be the product of distorted thoughts.

Emotional reasoning creates a vicious circle: negative thoughts generate negative emotions, which are taken as evidence validating the thoughts, which reinforces negative thoughts and intensifies emotions. This cycle is central in depression: the person feels empty and concludes that life is meaningless, which intensifies the emptiness.

In anxiety disorders, emotional reasoning manifests as: 'I feel in danger, therefore I am in danger.' The person with social phobia who feels ridiculous concludes that others find them ridiculous. The person with panic who feels bodily terror concludes they're dying. The emotion validates the belief without need for external evidence.

Cognitive therapy addresses emotional reasoning by teaching the fundamental distinction between feelings and facts. Key questions: 'What is the objective evidence, apart from what I feel?', 'Have I ever felt this way and reality was different from what I felt?', 'If a friend felt the way I do, what would I tell them?'

It is important not to fall into the opposite extreme: completely invalidating emotions. Emotions can be informative and adaptive. The key is not to use them as the sole evidence of reality, but as data that needs to be contrasted with objective evidence.