Help How Do You Deal With Catastrophic Thinking

[socrates]

I'm so sick of constantly catastrophizing everything. I act like every thing is the worst possible. Problems that may happen years in the future bother me like they are about to happen. I feel like I can go from helpful to hopeless in a drop of the hat.

 

[AutoTap]

I take a deep breathe and think it through. Helps me realize it's not as bad as it seems

 

[socrates]

Thanks, I just wish I was better then that

 

[feast or famine]

Man, I wish I could help you. This is my main issue. I started therapy not too long ago, but I've missed the last couple sessions. My therapist incorporates CBT into her approach. I'm hoping I can benefit from it and that it can help me with my catastrophic thinking.

It really runs my life. I hate it. I go from 0 to 100 immediately and no matter what, I always think worst case scenario. I'm sorry I can't help you, but I can understand you. Sending you positive vibes.

 

[Dr Iron Arc]

Usually the only thing that helps is trying to force myself to go to sleep. Either that or trying to distract myself but I can easily see whatevers bothering me in anything I'm watching or doing sometimes........

 

[MindFrog]

Intrusive thoughts are normal, but looking in to it and blowing it out of proportions is the problem, like you say. Your mind may have formed a habit of doing so, you have to find a way to break it. Take off the rails of your train of thought before its gets to the point where you feel panic.

Doing distractions, or attaching an out-of-place action when you're doing this could be beneficial. Just a reminder that "you're doing something you dont want to again" helps you control your mind from wandering. Makes you aware.

I used to yell random words when have those thoughts. It kind of shock my brain and tell it "yeah you should stop that" or "we'll do this multiple times until you look weird". Its a better alternative to hurting myself (please dont do this). Of course, different people have their own forms of coping to it. And it wouldnt work on all cases.

I've heard shock bracelets can help with bad habits, but i dont know how you can implement that for intrusive thoughts. It wont completely shoo away the demons, but it might be worth a try.

Good mental hygiene is really hard to achieve after all. I hope this helps a bit.

 

[Gaybonez]

I'm so sick of constantly catastrophizing everything. I act like every thing is the worst possible. Problems that may happen years in the future bother me like they are about to happen. I feel like I can go from helpful to hopeless in a drop of the hat.

Anxiety meds and sitting with the thoughts. I do this a little bit with people and whenever something bad happens

 

[Mm80]

The downward arrow technique.
You think aomething bads gonna happen....
Ask yourself, if im right what would that mean? .answer....ask the same question.
Helps you get to the root of the problem and identify illogical thoughts

 

[SanJunipero1]

Giving up is the best thing I've recently done for my mental health. I just assume most things will end up going tits up but accepting it takes away any worry or power it has over me. Worst case scenario-img for me calms me. But then that's because the worst thing that could ever happen to me already has.

 

[everydayiloveyou]

I have so much trouble with this, I didn't even realize how twisted my thought process was until I first started going to therapy.

When you experience catastrophic thoughts, is it like a chain of events sort of thing, e.g. "if I say something silly during this meeting, my boss will be mad, spread rumors about me, get me fired, and then Ill be homeless and die in a ditch" ? Or is it the general expectation that the absolute worst thing will happen? Such as thinking "oh my goodness, I took an extra minute on this problem, I failed this test and I will fail this class, my life is in shambles"

Depending on the flavor of catastrophe you tend to experience, the approach will be different. I tend to go into a crazy chain of events, so my therapist recommended that I write out my exact thought process, or say it aloud to the mirror. Ofc talking it through in therapy is also helpful too, if thats something thats available to you. When you verbalize these thoughts, you'll start to catch how irrational they are. Look out for unrealistic expectations of others, empty spots in your "story" where you start at one point and somehow end up at another without an explanation, and all-or-nothing/black-or-white thinking.

If you tend to overexaggerate little happenings in your life, as someone said above, try to prepare yourself instead of fighting it. Think about what you'd do if that horrible scenario does happen. How can you be ready? Prepare for that! But then also think, what if that doesn't happen? What if a completely different thing happens? Sometimes while you're doing all this worrying, you'll reason through the situation and realize it's not actually such a big deal. Worst case scenario, the situation does turn end up going horribly. But you'll be prepared. You'll have a plan, things to say, actions to take. And that is so vital in preventing a further meltdown which leads to more catastrophizing.

Overall, it's about seeing your reality in a rational way. Remember that life is complex and unpredictible, yet it is also simple and constant. People don't usually care to go out of their way to sabotage you, anvils dont fall out of the sky, etc, but its normal for bad things to happen sometimes. In any case, there is always a way out of a bad situation, and in many cases you can prepare yourself prior. Catastrophizing is a normal way to prepare ourselves for scary situations. Its a matter of learning which possibilities are influenced by your disordered thinking vs. which are actually reasonable and their purpose

 

[ceelestial]

Thoughts are not the problem, how you indulge and respond to them is.. try to observe them and note them objectively then leave them alone.

 

[Rollo]

The way I see it there are two ways out of it - one is more shaky, the other is more fundamental. The more shaky one is trying to approach it from the angle of rationality. Like you saying to yourself that it will happen only in distant future, or that this worst case scenario you think about won't necessarily happen at all or is unlikely to happen. I say it's shaky because the reality of our existence is anything can happen to anyone at any given moment. And even if it's bound happen only in distant future - it's bound to happen nonetheless. So minutes or days or years - not much difference in existential perspective.

So the major problem is not the irrationality of catastrophic thinking, but rather the very nature of it. To put it in other words - if you can't handle the thought then the problem is 'can't handle' part, and not the 'thought' part (which may or may not be irrational). Thus the more fundamental approach is to work on accepting pain as a part of life. Working on 'fuck it' attitude, taking it easy. If it happens then it happens. You gonna have to go through it and handle it.

In society there's a big pressure against 'fuck it' attitude. Like imagine as a child sitting in front of tv where news of tsunami play out. Many parents here will be all like 'omg what a horror'. Yet 'horror' is never there among the wreckage, it's always an emotion. And so if a child is not at all bothered - then he will likely face disapproval to some degree.. And it has a bg unconditional stamp of approval from society when it comes to being horrified by other people's suffering, however being horrified not by other people's suffering but by the very event itself and the possibility of it happening to you personally - in practice it also is a matter of approval. Like say when your mother be all like 'omg what a horror, I can't imagine it happening to me', and you will not be nearly as horrified and perhaps even find something funny here - most likely you will face disapproval. So this is how people are pressured into catastrophic thinking early on and then can't get away from it.

One way here is to realise that 'catastrophe' (unlike pain) is always your emotional response to the situation and not some necessary part of the situation itself. So once you realize it - then you realize that you have a discretion over it, which you wouldn't have if it was a physical reality. However once you realize it's a discretion - remember that people are looking at your discretions. So you need to be ready to stand to them if they choose to pressure you here. And another thing, and there's no going around it, - is once you start taking life and pain more easily, you will be less avoiding of it, and thus more likely to run into it. Which is actually healthy but still something you should be aware of and ready for. Avoiding pain is important but so is risking it. There's a healthy balance here that is up to every individual to find out.

 

[Lotus]

I struggle with this a lot as well. I wish I had the key. From Newt in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: "My philosophy is that worrying means you suffer twice." I couldn't agree more, but at the same time I can't manage to put it away. My therapist and other people are asking me, what's the worst thing that can happen really? In a way to make me think it's not that bad. But that way of thinking doesn't help me at all.

 

[Mentalmick]

Christ I freak out if someone I know doesn't say hello first. Paranoia goes super saiyan.

 

[SpinTop555]

I'm so sick of constantly catastrophizing everything. I act like every thing is the worst possible. Problems that may happen years in the future bother me like they are about to happen. I feel like I can go from helpful to hopeless in a drop of the hat.

I can relate to so much! I feel exactly the same, every day, and constantly swing from feeling a tiny bit hopeful that things may improve for me, to feeling completely and utterly hopeless and lost in despair. This life is a nightmare! I wish I could help, but there seems to be some good advice here, hope you find something that works.