Both of these activities allow you to step back and observe your own thoughts, rather than actively engaging with them. (A regular meditation practice for anxiety is wonderful for this.) Take it a step further and write down your worries throughout the day in a journal. The first step is becoming aware of your own thought patterns. Next time you find yourself catastrophizing, try the following: Recognize it Now onto the good news: there are ways we can break out of this pattern of doom and gloom, and let go of our worst expectations. In other words, we create our own suffering. We believe our own stories, and we ruminate when there is no actual threat present.
The problem isn’t so much the catastrophic thoughts themselves, but the fact that we tend to buy into them. They found that patients that had negative thoughts suffered higher levels of pain-in addition to higher levels of stress-than those who did not.
In 1978, researchers John Chaves and Judith Brown asked dental patients to make note of the thoughts and images that came up in their minds during a stressful procedure. Interestingly, it can also make physical pain worse. But catastrophizing can lead to high levels of stress, anxiety, and depression. Nowadays, our walk across the grocery store parking lot may not be as risky as a walk across the savannah, but thanks to evolution, our brains are still constantly on guard. When venturing out of the safety of our caves to find food, we had to be constantly on the lookout for predators. Once upon a time, this tendency was essential for survival. Don’t get me wrong, we don’t want to be this way rather, our brains are hardwired to focus on the bad stuff. Studies have shown that up to 70 percent of our thoughts are negative (this statistic is weirdly soothing-I thought it was just me). (That said, if your new spot doesn’t rub off, calmly take yourself to the doctor to get it checked out.)Ĭatastrophizing is incredibly common. Or, some of us see a spot on our face and automatically assume it is a terminal disease. We’ll decline an offer to go out on a date because we are sure the other person will find us unattractive and boring, and as a result, we’ll be single and desperately lonely until we die. We’ll fret over an exam, assuming that we will fail horribly and subsequently end up broke and destitute. When we catastrophize, we actually do two things: first, we predict the worst possible outcome second, we assume that if this outcome transpires, we won’t be able to cope and it will be an absolute disaster. This has become my new favorite word because it means I’m not the only one who does this.
Turns out, there’s a name for this: catastrophizing. And I can make mountains-no, volcanoes-out of molehills. When faced with the unknown, I expect the worst. I put away my toothbrush and my heart is flopping around like a fish on a pier. People are huddled in small groups, speaking in hushed tones. My funeral takes place in a beautiful park by my house. My friends visit, bring me flowers and sit by my bedside. As I brush my teeth, I imagine my final days.
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