The best tip off that you are using a distorted thinking style is the presence of negative emotions, such as feeling nervous, fed-up, frustrated or irritated. You notice conflicts arising with friends or family. It is time to focus on what you are thinking.
Faulty logic is at the root of many thinking errors and a great deal of human pain.
If the premise is in error, then a false conclusion will result. When the person is criticised he assumes the critic is trying to hurt him, when the criticism may have been helpful. They were usually originally made at the end of a traumatic experience when they seemed to make sense, to be safe solutions to the survival-threatening situation. The decision is repressed along with the memory of the event, but it resurfaces in automatic thinking. In other situations of course, it doesn't make much sense.