Concepts
Health psychology/Cognitive distortions · CBT distortion
All-or-nothing thinking
What it means
Seeing situations in only two absolute categories, with no middle ground (also "black-and-white" or dichotomous thinking).
Worked example
"If I’m not perfect, I’m a total failure."
In the exam
A high-achieving student who scores 78% concludes she is "a complete failure" because she did not get top marks.
What settles it
All-or-nothing uses binary extremes. Overgeneralisation extrapolates one event into an endless pattern ("always/never").
Classically confused with
Overgeneralisation
Source: Burns; CBT