Someone’s late for a date with you… They’re angry with me and don’t want anything to do with me anymore!
Your boss says he needs to speak to you… They’re going to sack me!
You’ve got a headache… I’ve got a tumour and I’m going to die!
For some people, perfectly ordinary situations trigger constant negative thoughts which, more often than not, do not reflect reality. Because they are automatic and very intense, this type of thinking turns into a spiral that is difficult to control.
In cognitive psychology, this pattern is known as ‘catastrophising’ and is associated with a tendency to overestimate the danger and underestimate one’s ability to cope with it.
What is catastrophic thinking?
It is a cognitive distortion in which you believe the worst-case scenario, without considering other, less drastic possibilities, even when faced with evidence to the contrary.
In a situation like this, you may find that this thought becomes increasingly intense. Your thoughts race. One scenario gives way to the next. And before you know it, your mind is caught up in a snowball effect of apocalyptic consequences with no end in sight.
At this point, your body begins to prepare to fight or flee from the ‘threat’ your brain has created. You’re likely to experience a racing heart, increased sweating, muscle tension or even shortness of breath.
All these symptoms have just one purpose… to prepare you for action. The problem is that reality isn’t as threatening as your brain has led you to believe.
In many cases, catastrophic thinking is a defence mechanism you’ve developed to protect yourself from situations that are uncomfortable or beyond your control.
Why do we always imagine the worst?
When you think about the worst-case scenario, your brain is doing its job: protecting you from danger. So, by anticipating the worst, your brain is preparing you to deal with the unknown.
Growing up in an unstable family
If you grew up in an unpredictable environment, you most likely spent most of your time anticipating what was going to happen. It was the strategy you devised to survive. As a result, you developed an impressive ability to foresee every possible scenario.
But as you reached adulthood, this skill has become an obstacle, preventing you from living peacefully, as it is all too easy for you to automatically jump to catastrophic conclusions. This is particularly common in situations of conflict or rejection, as they remind you of difficult times in your past.
Avoiding disappointment
Some people have constant negative thoughts without even realising it. But then there are also those who believe that imagining the worst-case scenario is the best way to avoid suffering. If you do this consciously, you probably believe that this strategy is more bearable than facing the disappointment of having your hopes dashed.
Underlying psychiatric condition
Catastrophic thinking and anxiety are very closely linked. In many cases, one feeds into the other (and vice versa). If you suffer from anxiety, it is natural to seek predictability. However, when this is not possible, your brain conjures up the worst-case scenario to protect you. Yet this attempt at protection ends up causing even more anxiety.
As well as anxiety, catastrophic thinking can also be linked to certain difficulties such as persistent anxiety, obsessive patterns or traumatic experiences.
If you have experienced a traumatic situation (whether it was a one-off event or a series of extreme situations throughout your life), it is possible that your nervous system has adapted to anticipate danger. As a result, you become hypervigilant, always looking for the worst-case scenario so that you can protect yourself in time.
The impact of catastrophic thinking
Anticipating every possible scenario is emotionally and physically draining. It is humanly impossible to predict everything that will happen, both in our own lives and in the lives of those closest to us.
And just as with other harmful behaviours, catastrophic thinking also has negative long-term consequences.
As well as palpitations, cold sweats, shortness of breath or muscle tension, if you’re always imagining the worst-case scenario, you’re very likely to find it hard to concentrate, fall asleep, sleep or relax, and you may experience digestive problems, generalised aches and pains, irritability or a tendency to isolate yourself emotionally.
In other words, it is as if the body were always ready for a battle that rarely actually takes place. Understanding this pattern is important. But even more important is knowing how to deal with it on a day-to-day basis.
How to avoid thinking about the worst-case scenario?
For a long time, imagining the worst-case scenario was the best strategy you could find to cope with physical and emotional pain. But when this strategy stops you from enjoying the best things in life, perhaps it’s time to regain control of your mind.
Name what is happening
Putting a name to what’s going on in your mind helps you to view catastrophic thoughts with a degree of detachment, as if they weren’t really ‘yours’.
Recognising the presence of these thoughts – which will stay with you for a while and then fade away – helps you to realise that, after all, they aren’t really that intense, nor do they correspond to reality.
Focus on here and now
When you feel your mind is already racing, imagining scenarios that are out of proportion to what might actually happen, use your body to focus on the present.
A useful strategy is to name five things you can see, four things you can hear, three things you can feel, two things you can smell and one thing you can taste. By using your five senses, you are ‘forcing’ your brain to pay attention to what is around you at that moment, rather than what might happen.
Another strategy is to control your breathing. Breathing in deeply through your nose and breathing out slowly through your mouth helps your nervous system to regulate itself.
These suggestions won’t completely stop catastrophic thoughts from arising. What will happen, however, is that their intensity and frequency will decrease significantly.
Change the narrative
Trying to argue with your brain is pointless. You’ll just feel more anxious, and it will always come up with more negative thoughts that you hadn’t considered.
Instead, accept what it’s telling you: “OK, you’re imagining a disaster because you’re trying to protect me. Thanks, brain! Now can you suggest another possibility of what might happen?”
In this way, as well as acknowledging what’s happening, you’ll be directing your attention towards less negative scenarios and looking for an acceptable middle ground.
Cut down on what triggers you
If you live in a chaotic environment, try to work out what you can change in your daily life to reduce your stress levels. These could be things as simple as drinking less coffee, spending less time on social media or trying to go to bed a little earlier.
By reducing overstimulation of the nervous system, the frequency and intensity of your catastrophic thoughts will also decrease.
Search for help
If you’ve already tried all the strategies mentioned above and still can’t stop yourself from always imagining the worst-case scenario, it might be best to seek specialist help. Psychological counselling is an excellent way to understand what lies at the root of your thought patterns.
References
Flink IL, Boersma K, Linton SJ. Pain catastrophizing as repetitive negative thinking: a development of the conceptualization. Cogn Behav Ther. 2013;42(3):215-23. doi: 10.1080/16506073.2013.769621. PMID: 23978106; PMCID: PMC4193285. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23978106/
Elhamiasl M, Dehghani M, Heidari M, Khatibi A. The Relationship Between Ruminating the Catastrophic Consequences of Bodily Changes and Positive Reappraisal and Practical Problem-Solving Strategies in Individuals With Illness Anxiety Disorder. Basic Clin Neurosci. 2020 Sep-Oct;11(5):639-648. doi: 10.32598/bcn.9.10.240. Epub 2020 Sep 1. PMID: 33643557; PMCID: PMC7878061. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7878061/
Özdemir İ, Kuru E. Investigation of Cognitive Distortions in Panic Disorder, Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Social Anxiety Disorder. J Clin Med. 2023 Oct 3;12(19):6351. doi: 10.3390/jcm12196351. PMID: 37834995; PMCID: PMC10573573. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37834995/
Gellatly, R., Beck, A.T. Catastrophic Thinking: A Transdiagnostic Process Across Psychiatric Disorders. Cogn Ther Res 40, 441–452 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-016-9763-3