Distorted Reality Mcgraw Analysis

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In class we talked about true reality, experienced reality and distorted reality and the author on page 367 adds to this by talking about filters and distorted light/color influencing self-perception, self-concept and arguably self-esteem. One piece of this section that effectively mirrors the class discussion of the “I” or personal responsibility that connects all of the triangles together is internal dialogue. McGraw says that this dialogue “is the real-time conversation that you have with yourself about everything that’s going on in your life” (McGraw, 374). During these conversations, he explains, people filter in what they perceive to be happening and not what’s actually happening. This phenomenon most closely aligns with the class discussion of distorted reality. …show more content…

The problem with this form of reality is that it affects your internal dialogue and “tends to be totally monopolistic” (McGraw, 379). McGraw notes that people fall victim to believing this distorted dialogue because we believe that we don’t lie to or mislead ourselves. The unfortunate truth, or factual reality, of this is that we in fact filter in and out what we want or don’t want to see, think or feel. Negative internal dialogue affects people with high anxiety and severe doubts the most when it’s least expected or wanted. Here is where self-concept and self-esteem play an important role. Someone with a low self-esteem likely has devastating self-talk, which puts internal dialogue on autopilot to continuously play “self defeating messages” (McGraw, 380). All of this affects the way a person views their self-concept, and this can lead to a person living in a distorted reality where nothing they say or do is good enough or going to

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