Personalization in CBT is described as?

• A. Tendency for individuals to relate events to themselves when there is no basis for this connection
• B. A technique for shifting personal responsibility to others
• C. The process of personalizing therapy goals
• D. A method to attribute external events to random chance

Answer: (A)

Personalization in CBT refers to a cognitive distortion where a person interprets events as directly about themselves or assumes they are the cause of things that are not actually under their control. It involves taking external happenings and linking them to one’s own actions or character without adequate evidence. This tendency leads to self-blame and overgeneralized conclusions like “this is happening because of me” or “everyone is reacting to me,” even when there’s little or no justification. In therapy, recognizing personalization helps clients test the evidence for such connections, separate what is their responsibility from what isn’t, and develop more balanced interpretations.

Shifting personal responsibility to others describes blaming or externalizing rather than internalizing; it’s not about linking events to oneself. Personalizing therapy goals would be about how goals are set, not about misattributing events. Attributing external events to random chance involves seeing events as random rather than connected to oneself, which is not what personalization describes.