Fact vs. Opinion - Video Transcript

Hey everyone, I'm Kristen the anxiety therapist and today I'm going to be differentiating between facts and opinions. Um, this might seem like a rather simplistic topic, but when we have cognitive distortions or those thinking traps that I've mentioned in other videos, um, the lines can get really blurry between what is an opinion and what is a fact.

And I think a lot of times we also tend to believe that how we feel is factual. So if I'm feeling really anxious about an upcoming situation, then we start to believe that that is a true indicator or a true predictor of how the situation will sort of unfold when in reality it's just a feeling and feelings are fleeting.

If we allow feelings to move through us, they will sort of be on their way more quickly than if we try to avoid them or resist them. So, um, just to differentiate between opinion versus fact and opinion is subjective. It cannot be proven or disproven and it reflects a preference or a perspective. Um, so a lot of team, excuse me, a lot of times, these are sort of rooted in our values, our belief systems, our morals.

This is why conversations on politics and religion and stuff gets so heated because a lot of these things are our opinions and their beliefs and so it's really hard to change somebody's belief about something if, if it's really connected and deeply rooted in their values and morals. So the difference between opinions and facts are that facts are pretty much right or wrong, right? They can be proven or disproven by anybody. So they're the same across the board, no matter who, who says it.

It's factual if it can be proven and if if there's a right versus wrong. So I'm just going to run through a few examples of facts versus opinions. Try to figure out on your own which one it is. And we can kind of look at how there can be some overlap or blurred lines between the two. So the first is the statement, I am a failure, right a lot of times if we have these, um, thinking traps, we believe this is factual.

We believe we are truly a failure and it can be proven when in reality this is purely an opinion. This is purely our perception of ourselves and the way we sort of feel about ourselves and is not at all rooted in in fact, sure you might fail an exam or something, but in terms of like it being a personality or character trait or part of your disposition.

You perceiving your failure is just that it's a perception. It's an opinion. The second one is the statement I yelled at my partner. So this would be more factual, right? We could get into the nitty gritty of what really constitutes yelling, but for the sake of this video, we're going to say that this is a fact, right.

If somebody was observing, you communicating with your partner. Um, they would have observed that behavior that that's an observable behavior that you yelled at your partner. So that's a fact. Um third statement is she didn't care about hurting me. So this is going to be an opinion.

This is another one where a lot of times we assume people's intentions or we assume kind of what what motivated them to act in a certain but this is an opinion. This is our perception. We have absolutely no factual evidence that this person didn't care about hurting us. And so this is just purely based on our subjective experience with that person.

The fourth statement is that this will be an absolute disaster. Now again, we get into the anticipation of something. So this is purely our opinion. Our perception. It includes another cognitive distortion, which is catastrophizing right? That it's expecting the worst case scenario, but it's not a fact because it hasn't happened yet.

Therefore it can't be proven. Um, so again, this will be an absolute disaster. Is more of a prediction or an anticipation of how something will unfold. And then lastly, we have the statement, I'm over weight for my height. So this would be factual, right? Because we can go see the doctor that can show us that little chart what is, you know, the healthy weight for your height.

What is overweight. What is obese yada yada yada research has been done um, to sort of determine the parameters of what a healthy weight for certain heights are. So this would be a fact there, it can be proven, there's no, you might have certain opinions or perceptions about that.

But in actuality it is factual. So I just want you to kind of pay attention to your own own facts and opinions. And a lot of times when we get really kind of upset with other people for disagreeing with us, we have to remember that they are, they have their own opinions, their own perceptions, their own interpretation of things in their own belief systems.

And so when we're constantly trying to prove something as though it's factual, that's just going to lead to more anxiety and miscommunication and disconnect on our part than to kind of respect and acknowledge that people can have differing opinions and that that's okay. So I hope you found this helpful. Um I put out new content weekly, follow me at cathartic space counseling on facebook or instagram or if you want to learn more about me and my practice, go ahead and check out my website at cathartic space counseling dot com.

I hope you all have a great week, take care.