The Budget Presentation

≈ 6 min

Read the monologue below. Decide (a) which cognitive distortion — if any — the speaker's reasoning shows, and (b) which phrase best signals it. This is a puzzle about thinking patterns, not a diagnosis or advice. The person and situation are entirely invented.

The scene

An open-plan office after a quarterly budget review where a colleague presented someone else's analysis as their own.

In the differential

Personalisation
Catastrophising
Fortune-telling
Mind-reading
Overgeneralisation
No distortion — a reasonable reaction

Play today’s Distortion.

This case first aired on August 5, 2026. A fresh distortion runs every morning — same rules, five minutes, one solution.

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