Hello all!

I thought I would take some time to explain what catastrophizing cognitions are. These kinds of thoughts are commonly seen among individuals suffering from addictions. However, after reading this I am sure you will see that you do not have to be suffering from a mental imperfection to experience this kind of thinking, in fact, I am sure you will be able to relate to this and maybe even think, “Hey! I have totally thought or done that before!!!”

So, what are catastrophizing cognitions? Well, to pick this a part, cognitions are merely referring to the process of being aware or recognizing a thought, and catastrophizing entails any irrational, distorted thought that leads us to believe something is worse off than it truly is. This in turn tends to trigger an anxious response in an individual and thus, lead to further concern and/or worry.

Effectively, there are two forms of catastrophizing cognitions. The first is when an individual makes a catastrophe out of a particular situation. For example, say you were driving down the highway in your car and your ‘check engine’ light flashes bright red. This may trigger a thought in your head that your car is a p.o.j (piece of junk) and you are doomed because you won’t be able to afford paying for your engine to be serviced, nor do you have the time to- your day, and week to come, is going to suck! That is an example of taking a specific situation and giving it a truly negative spin.

The second form of catastrophizing cognition involves taking the first step a little further, literally. For example, you may add onto the first statement that not only is your week to come going to suck, as you will have to afford paying for this broken down-hunk-a-junk car and have to arrange for a rental car, but overall, your life sucks! This may lead you to wonder why does this always have to happen to you? It always does, your life and your car are cursed, you are forever doomed and there isn’t anything that can help things get better! So here, you basically take the first step, give it a global twist and sprinkle in some future thoughts- that your life will always suck and you are cursed with cars!

Both types fundamentally create a mental thought, or thoughts, that lead you to give up before trying to rationally remedy the situation. These forms of cognitions can create problems in your mindset for thinking and reasoning, it can also negatively affect how you view yourself, others and eventually could lead to self-fulfilling prophecies (Tepper, 2004).

Below are some more examples of catastrophizing, distorted cognitions. Please keep in mind that these thoughts generally trigger and exacerbate anxiety:

• Overestimating
o “If it was so awful this time, next time it could kill me!”
• Catastrophizing
o “If I don’t follow through, I’ll never be able to face my friends again!”
• Overgeneralizing
o “I always make bad judgments about potential friends!”
• Filtering
o “I can’t believe I messed up so badly!”- responding to one aspect, although the overall picture of the situation was positive
• Emotional reasoning
o “I feel overwhelmed, therefore I must not be competent to do the job!”
• “Should” statements
o “I should be able to do this without a single mistake!”

So, how do you get help from getting rid of this kind of thinking? Well, you need to become aware that you are thinking this way and doing this. How do you do this? Mindfulness!!! This book is a good read that can facilitate the mindfulness process, and teach you to incorporate it into your life. When you practice mindfulness, you are able to step back from any given situation and analyze it from all perspectives (the good, the bad and the neutral). The theory is that when you take a step back to analyze any given situation, you are in a better frame of mind to think rationally and make adequate decisions that will hopefully help guide you down the right path- with a bit of luck not down the catastrophizing one! Well, readers, I wish you luck in trying mindfulness and if you suffer from catastrophizing thoughts, I hope this treatment modality is effective!

More later,

-Anna DiNoto

*Note: The opinions are my own, Anna DiNoto’s, only. Thank you and I hope you enjoy and keep on reading as well as commenting- it is greatly appreciated !*

References:

Tepper, S. (2004). Psychology and behavioral studies. Headache: The Journal of Head & Face Pain, 44(10), 1067. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com, doi:10.1111/j.1526-4610.2004.4207_5.x