Discounting the Positives Cognitive Assessment

When someone compliments me, I feel they are just being polite rather than sincere.

I believe my successes are primarily due to luck rather than my own ability.

If I do something well, I think to myself that anyone could have done it.

I focus more on the one mistake I made than the many things I did correctly.

When I achieve a goal, I immediately look for flaws in my performance.

I feel like a fraud when people praise my work or character.

I dismiss my good qualities as being unimportant or no big deal.

I assume people only say nice things to me because they feel sorry for me.

I tell myself that my past achievements don’t matter because of my current struggles.

I find it difficult to accept a thank you without downplaying my effort.

I believe that positive events in my life are just temporary flukes.

I compare my best moments to others’ extraordinary highlights to make mine seem small.

I feel uncomfortable or anxious when I am the center of positive attention.

I think that my strengths are common and therefore not worth celebrating.

I view my successes as exceptions to the rule of my usual failures.

I believe that if people knew the real me, they would not praise me.

I struggle to remember my accomplishments when I am feeling down.

I think my positive traits are just things I should have, so they don’t deserve credit.

I anticipate that something bad will happen to balance out a good event.

I find myself saying ‘Yes, but…’ whenever someone points out something good I did.