Black-and-white thinking under stress (also called dichotomous thinking) is a very common cognitive response when the nervous system is overloaded.
What it looks like
Under stress, the mind collapses complexity into extremes:
- All good / all bad
- Success / total failure
- Safe / dangerous
- Right / wrong
- For me / against me
Nuance, gray areas, and uncertainty feel intolerable.
Why stress triggers it
When stress is high, the brain shifts into survival mode:
- Prefrontal cortex (flexible thinking) goes offline
- Amygdala (threat detection) dominates
- The system prioritizes speed over accuracy
Black-and-white thinking is fast, decisive, and protective — even if it’s inaccurate.
From a trauma-informed lens, this is not a “thinking error” but a protective simplification.
Common situations that intensify it
- Emotional overwhelm
- Interpersonal conflict
- Trauma reminders
- Sleep deprivation
- Chronic anxiety or depression
- Identity threat (shame, rejection, failure)
Examples
- “If I can’t do this perfectly, I shouldn’t do it at all.”
- “They disagreed with me → they don’t care about me.”
- “I made one mistake → I am a failure.”
- “If I feel anxious, something terrible must be happening.”
How it maintains distress
Black-and-white thinking:
- Increases emotional reactivity
- Escalates conflict
- Reinforces shame and hopelessness
- Narrows perceived options
- Prevents problem-solving
How to work with it (not against it)
Because this pattern is state-dependent, the goal is not to “argue with thoughts” but to down-regulate the nervous system first.
Helpful approaches:
- Grounding (sensory input, slow breathing)
- Naming the state: “I’m stressed — my brain is simplifying.”
- Introducing both/and language:
- “I’m struggling and still capable.”
- “This is hard and not permanent.”
- Asking gentle questions:
- “What’s one exception?”
- “What’s a 5% improvement?”
Clinical note (relevant to your background)
In trauma psychology, black-and-white thinking is often:
- A learned adaptation to unpredictable environments
- A marker of nervous system load, not personality pathology
- Reversible with regulation and safety
It becomes problematic only when it hardens into a trait rather than a temporary state.
Shervan K Shahhian
LIBERTY PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION 