title: Cognitive distortions in the poetry of Anne Sexton.
abstract: Cognitive therapists have described cognitive distortions that are frequently associated with depression. These distortions include arbitrary inference, selective abstraction, overgeneralization, magnification and minimization, personalization, and dichotomous thinking, which are often present in suicidal individuals. This article suggests it is useful to conceptualize cognitive distortions in literary terms and uses the professional oeuvre of confessional poet Anne Sexton to identify salient examples.
authors.affiliation: School of Medicine, University of Missouri-Columbia, USA.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wedding
mesh_terms: D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000266:history* / Q000523:psychology; D003863:Depression / Q000266:history; D005197:Famous Persons; D005260:Female; D006212:Hallucinations / Q000266:history; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D008093:Literature, Modern / Q000266:history*; D008513:Medicine in Literature; D011037:Poetry as Topic / Q000266:history*; D013405:Suicide / Q000266:history; D014481:United States