Concepts
Health psychology/Cognitive distortions · CBT distortion
Personalisation
What it means
Seeing oneself as the cause of an external event for which one was not primarily responsible.
Worked example
"My patient deteriorated — it’s entirely my fault" despite optimal care.
In the exam
A mother blames herself entirely for her teenage son’s drug use, ignoring the many other factors involved.
What settles it
Personalisation over-attributes external events to the self. Emotional reasoning infers truth from feelings; personalisation infers responsibility.
Classically confused with
Emotional reasoning
Source: Burns; CBT