The thesis of cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) is something like
Depression is caused by distorted thought patterns, called cognitive distortions.
Some categories of distorted thought patterns are:
- All or nothing thinking “I got a question wrong on the test so I’m a failure”
- Discounting the positive / mental filter
- Should statements
- Jumping to conclusions / mind reading
- Labeling Seeing failings as character deficits rather than bad actions
- Over-generalization
- Emotional reasoning (assuming that your emotions are accurate) (e.g., “I feel bad, so I must be bad.“)