Examination of cognitive distortions and life satisfaction in the Covid-19 experience

One of the most significant elements that generate a healthy society is that the individuals who create it should be healthy in all aspects, by clearly perceiving the situation they are in and making evaluations without breaking away from the facts. From a very early stage, it will be possible for individuals to take the correct steps in the world around them, make healthy decisions, shape their fate, by thinking and evaluating correctly in the cognitive sense. When people develop these abilities, they will be happier and will be able to reach their life satisfaction. On the other hand, problems may appear in seeing and living the truth, and these problems may trigger the way for psychological problems by preventing life satisfaction, subjective well- being, and happiness. Cognitive distortion and life satisfaction can be affected by many factors. One of them is the recent COVID-19 pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic may cause an increase in the cognitive distortion levels of individuals of all ages and, accordingly, a decrease in their life satisfaction. Based on these considerations, it was aimed to examination of the COVID-19 pandemic with cognitive distortion and life satisfaction. The study was carried out with the relational scanning technique, one of the quantitative research methods, on individuals between the age of 20 and 60 were studied throughout Turkey. In the research, to use the snowball sampling method on the participants, "Google Form" was used to reach out to them. In this context, 807 people were reached. Of the participants, 492 were women and 315 were men.In the study, data were collected with the "General Information Form", "Satisfaction with Life Scale", and "Cognitive Distortion Scale". As a result of the research, according to the gender, cognitive distortion levels, and age of the participants; there is a significant difference between life satisfaction levels. A negative correlation was found between life satisfaction levels and cognitive distortion levels. A significant difference was found between the helplessness, which is one of the sub-dimensions of the cognitive distortion scale, according to the status of contracting the COVID-19 disease. Based on the results obtained from the research, it is recommended to carry out supportive studies for individuals, to increase social awareness, and to conduct further studies. Keywords: Cognitive distortion, Life satisfaction, COVID 19, Subjective well- being, Psychological resilience.