What is Catastrophic Thinking?

The word catastrophic means something terrible, sudden, and disastrous. While it is normal for all of us to fear or think about impending disasters or terrible events, especially on the back of the pandemic, those who battle catastrophic thinking can’t turn that thinking off. They are in a constant state of crisis as anything can be potentially disastrous.

Our mind unfortunately cannot tell the difference between someone experiencing something terrible and our imaginations of something terrible happening. As a way of protecting us, the body goes into fight, flight, or freeze mode, even when there is no actual danger. It is for this reason catastrophic thinking can be detrimental to mental and physical health.

It is important to note that catastrophic thinking is not a mental health condition, though it can be a symptom of some conditions. Catastrophic thinking has been likened to the snowball effect. It starts with a small negative thought that can, just like a snowball grow into something much bigger than the initial trigger.

Characteristics of Catastrophic Thinking

People caught up in a catastrophic thinking loop do so without any evidence that what they fear will come to pass and in most cases, those fears do not materialize. Some of the common characteristics of catastrophic thinking can include the following:

Negative irrational thinking.

Catastrophic thinkers do not rely on evidence or fact to support their fears and anxieties. It’s all cognitive with no actual reasoning behind their negative conclusions. They use their emotions and/or intuitions as evidence that something terrible is going to happen.

Exaggeration.

In simple terms, this is sometimes referred to as blowing things out of proportion. Catastrophic thinkers magnify the significance and impact of a situation, making it much worse than it is.

Minimize abilities.

They minimize their ability to deal with negative situations should they arise. Because of this, they are paralyzed to do anything and they can sometimes suffer anxiety or panic attacks.

Expect the worst.

In most situations, they fail to see anything positive happening, they anticipate the worst scenario to happen, mainly because they have a belief that nothing good ever happens to them. This can be true even when something good is happening, they struggle to celebrate or be in the moment as they are waiting for the proverbial other shoe to drop.

Avoidance behavior.

They limit the things they can experience or places they can go because they fear something terrible will happen if they don’t avoid those spaces. This is without any evidence of anything bad having happened before. Even if something bad had happened, they cannot reason that it might have been a one-time event.

Physical symptoms.

Catastrophic thinking can cause someone to experience the physical symptoms of anxiety and stress. This can include panic attacks, rapid heart rate, sweating, muscle tension, and difficulty breathing.

Black and white thinking.

They think in extremes. There is no middle ground when it comes to situations. They experience and view life as either good or bad, with a particular bend toward the bad things in life.

Confirmation bias.

When they feel a situation is going to be bad or is bad, they usually find evidence to support their theory. They do this by magnifying anything that supports their view and minimizing or disregarding anything that contradicts that view.

Effects of catastrophic thinking.

It is important to note that we all have gloom and doom thoughts occasionally. It is normal for each one of us to think about worst-case scenarios or have the “what if” thoughts relating to how we live. Catastrophic thinking becomes a problem when it is a person’s default way of looking at life and situations. Some ways this thinking may manifest itself are:

• Strained relationships due to fear of commitment, fear of abandonment, being highly suspicious of people, and not being able to trust easily. They can also be that negative friend/relative that people do not want to be with.
• Impaired ability to solve problems or make decisions. They get overwhelmed easily.
• Might struggle with stress, anxiety, and/or depression.
• Their quality of life will not be optimum. Living with a constant negative view of everything will result in failing to enjoy life, be grateful, and relax.
• Negative thinking or ruminations are a huge part of catastrophic thinking. This type of living can impact one’s mental and physical health.

Connect with our team for help.

Catastrophic thinking is not something people do out of choice. It can be due to past traumatic events or other mental health conditions. Though it can be hard to live with, there is hope.

With the right support and education, people can learn to stop or at least manage their negative thoughts. If you feel this article described some of the ways you view life, Wylie Christian Counseling can help. Let us connect you to a professional counselor or therapist in Wylie, Texas today.