![]() The result is a spiral of negative thinking that can lead to a full-blown panic attack. If they are nervous about giving a presentation, for example, they think that their pounding heart is a sign that they are going to have a heart attack. In some cases, people may start to catastrophise the bodily sensations that accompany anxiety. For someone with health anxiety, meanwhile, catastrophising may lead someone to self-diagnose any slight change in their body as a sign of cancer. At some point, the person’s fears may reach a point where they are simply no longer able to function in their role. “They might engage in catastrophic thinking such as ‘I’m going to get fired’ and ‘If I get fired, I won’t be able to handle it’,” explains Keelan. At work, for instance, a perfectionist with catastrophising tendencies might agonise over the smallest mistake. If they were less prone to catastrophising, they might notice that the cabin crew looked unalarmed, but a catastrophiser would assume that the staff simply weren’t paying attention – and as the unnerving sound continued, they would start imagining the awful ways they might die.Ĭontinued research shows that catastrophic thinking is a serious contributor to many other anxiety disorders. Someone with a fear of flying, for example, might interpret a slight rattle in the cabin as a sign of a technical fault. ![]() Right from the outset, catastrophising was identified as a potentially important cognitive distortion – with Beck writing about its potential role in phobias. Rather than trying to unearth hidden psychological conflict, they focused on people’s conscious thought processes, by targeting the maladaptive thinking patterns or “cognitive distortions” that could be leading to distress. The aim was to uncover suppressed fears and desires – often resulting from events in early childhood, and sexual in nature – that created psychological conflict.īy the middle of the century, however, psychotherapists such as Albert Ellis and Aaron Beck had started to look for alternative ways of guiding people through their distress. Psychologists’ understanding of catastrophising as a serious risk factor for mental illness stems from the birth of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy.įor the first half of the 20th Century, psychoanalysis – developed by Sigmund Freud and others – had been the primary means of tackling mental illness. Catastrophising can occur at any point in our lives – but the lingering fears of Covid-19, combined with the pressing political and economic uncertainty, could certainly exacerbate the tendency.įinding ways to break those toxic thinking cycles should therefore bolster anyone’s resilience – and there may be no better time to learn. “It’s a negatively skewed way of thinking, which elevates the intensity of emotions to levels that are hard to manage, and in some cases they are overwhelming,” explains Dr Patrick Keelan, a psychologist and certified therapist in Alberta, Canada.Ībundant research shows catastrophising can pose a serious threat to mental health, and may also amplify feelings of distress accompanying conditions such as chronic pain. If any of these situations feel familiar, then you might be susceptible to catastrophising: a mental habit in which you overestimate the chances of something bad happening, and exaggerate the potential negative consequences of that scenario. ![]() The devastation it could cause for you and your loved ones keeps playing out in your mind’s eye. ![]() You spend hours, every night, ruminating on the threat of nuclear war, the emergence of another deadly virus or the likelihood of an economic recession. Maybe it’s geopolitical events that concern you. When you don’t receive an immediate response, you start imagining all the ways you might have offended the person – without even considering the possibility that they are just occupied with some other task. Or perhaps you’re waiting for a reply to a message to a friend. Do you celebrate your progress so far, and start preparing for the new challenge? Or do you immediately start visualising a rejection, agonising over what it will do to your self-esteem? “If I flunk this, I’m a total failure,” you tell yourself. Imagine you’ve applied for a dream job, and you have now been selected for the second round of interviews.
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