Do You Make A Catastrophe Out of Everything?

How to address a thought pattern of “catastrophizing” all of life’s inconveniences.

What does it mean when someone “catastrophizes”? Catastrophizing is a surprisingly common cognitive disorder or thinking error. Simply put, it is when we perceive and/or process a current or future event as an absolute groundbreaking catastrophe.

An example of this would be worrying about an upcoming exam. The panic is so overtaking that this person believes they will fail the test, and then even contemplates that they may fail out of school altogether.

Patterns of Thought Don’t Budge so Freely

This thought can snowball into other areas of life and bring notions like, “Well if I fail out of school, I’ll have no degree. I won’t get a job. I’ll have no money. I won’t start a family. I’ll be homeless…” and so on.

And by the time this person has completely over-analyzed a simple process of thought, they have organized their entire existence into a failure. …All over a single test.

This pattern of perspective can happen over any type of thought and is deemed catastrophizing when this person affirms their circumstance to be unrecoverable. Now, these types of thoughts don’t appear out of the blue. They usually arise from a true setback… like getting a flat tire or having an argument with someone.

With each inconvenience or burden that piles on, patience and logical analysis wears thinner.

What Causes Catastrophizing?

It is typically rooted in the habitual way we face the everyday challenges in our life, ranging from breaking a nail to getting fired. Take a moment of brief reflection to honestly check in with yourself about how you most often respond to challenges.

For me, it has been a long journey of unlearning behaviors of the past. I have been able to accomplish a non-catastrophizing version of myself through therapy, self-regulation, and a heightened sense of self-awareness.

I Was a Chronic Catastrophizer

I believe this to be true because I was raised in an environment where everything was an emergency. A missing cell phone would send my parent off the deep end, and the smallest inconveniences in life sent my parent from zero to a hundred.

This accumulated for me as a child and eventually surfaced through violent road rage, social media fights, giving dirty looks to strangers, or cursing people out once in a while. Thankfully I have never been in a fistfight, but nasty verbose dialogue with a stranger was not an uncommon occurrence.

It is not something I’m proud of and has been a character flaw I have fought long and hard to diminish.

Just because you catastrophize does not mean you are rude to other people. That was anecdotal and how my pattern of catastrophizing personally affected me and led me to act the way I did amidst aging into a young adult.

Expect the Worst, Receive the Worst

When these recurring thoughts morph into habits and thus something that is difficult to control, depression and anxiety follow suit. When you perceive the worst that can possibly happen, you put yourself in a mindset where you expect the worse to happen.

This invites it in. Remember, like thoughts attract like thoughts. Our thoughts create things! Thinking depressive and despairing thoughts consistently will literally cause our brain to release serotonin — a feel-good hormone.

Thus we lose motivation, rates of productivity decrease, and the likelihood of depressive thoughts surfacing increases. Catastrophizing inevitably results in an unfulfilling day-to-day quality of life.

Why Do We Do This?

I’m not sure if you’re a victim of the cycle of catastrophizing, but please know that there is nothing wrong with you for thinking this way. You are not “broken” or indefinitely chemically imbalanced.

Though, your human experience could be greatly improved if you face life through a less catastrophic-type lens.

The act of catastrophizing serves two functions…

1. We Protect Ourselves From Disappointment

When we prepare for the worst, we are putting up a barrier that protects us from any disappointments or failures in life that may follow.

If we reject ourselves, it won’t hurt nearly as much if at all when someone else rejects us. If we put ourselves down, no one else can get in our heads and make us feel bad when they make fun of us.

Living like this may be comfortable short-term, but is toxic to achieving true happiness and genuine joy that can be shared with others. It also may eventually lead to anxiety and/or depression.

Thoughts like these also coincide with the suppression of emotions and choosing to avoid vulnerability out of fear of getting hurt by others. If you choose to do this, simply know that suppressed emotions must and will eventually exit the body in one way or another.

Whether it be through fits of anger with spontaneous crying, physical movement, or even through sexual release. The stale energy must be transmuted. If it is not, it will fester in the body and possibly lead to physical symptoms and diseases. I always recall and firmly believe that dis-ease leads to disease.

2. We Believe We Will Best be Motivated Through Fear

We trust that scaring ourselves is effective in propelling us toward success; otherwise, there’s no way we’ll make it. Your inner chatter may operate like this: “If you don’t study and ace this, your future is ruined. You better know what you’re doing. Your life is at stake here.”

We try to alarm ourselves as a way to maintain a clear focus and attain perfection in whatever the task at hand may be. And while this may look short-term, it’s basically a form of manipulation and probably not the best way to stay motivated.

Fear eventually leads to anxiety and depression, and overall lower levels of functionality. Our intentions may be rooted in presenting a pep talk to ourselves for that occasional boost. Yet in reality, it may actually be a fear talk that is subconsciously negating our self-worth on a regular basis.

What’s the Alternative?

1. Get some sleep. It sounds simple, but many feel they can function on very few hours of sleep. While this may be true for some, sleep deprivation makes us overly sensitive to becoming upset. It also makes it more difficult for us to rationalize and adapt to a negative occurrence.

When you’re well-rested, you can more easily face challenges and perhaps avoid catastrophizing simple events. You may benefit from trying a sleep supplement like Melatonin. This one is my favorite. [Disclaimer, affiliate link]

1. Be okay with the idea of uncertainty. Get comfortable with being uncomfortable and embrace the fact that no matter how hard you plan your day and how diligently you aim for perfection, things don’t always work out as arranged.

Though this may still elicit physical symptoms of anxiety within you, practice knowing that what you’re experiencing is normal and natural.

1. Motivate yourself using ideas and things that you are striving towards as opposed to using the fear-tactic. When you focus on constructive goals, you have the ability to choose and maintain a mindset that everything you do is being done because you choose it.

When we phrase something as having to do it like: “I have to go to work,” “I have to study,” “I have to clean the house,” etc, we are extracting the implicit value of these behaviors.

“I choose to go to work because I am deserving of the fulfillment and income my career brings me.”

“I choose to study because I want to take full advantage of my education and I really love learning new things. I am so lucky I have this opportunity.”

“I choose to clean the house because I deserve to live in a nice environment that makes me feel good.”

When we change our language, magic happens.

4. If you want to stop catastrophizing, make a point to take notice of the words you are regularly using like never, terrible, failure, etc. Ask your friends and family to point out to you when they notice you acting in catastrophizing alignment.

Take note of the situations you have a tendency to catastrophize. This is dependent on a lot of things but is often things in an individual’s life that are most important to them. That could range anywhere from academics to career to relationships to body image and more.

5. Notice your thoughts when you experience them, and replace those opinions with something more rational and honest.

Learning how to escape a mindset that has a tendency to catastrophize is no easy feat. Despite this, I promise that once you snap out of the habit that it will be so worth it and you will be incredibly satisfied that you worked so hard to improve yourself.

Best,

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