Tag: Psychology & Mental Health

Halloween… the scariest day of the year.

The day of spooky decorations and macabre, horrifying and sinister costumes.

The day when we have fun with the very things that usually frighten us.

Halloween intrigues me…

Why is it that on this day we seek out the very things we usually try to avoid?

The origins of Halloween and its connection to fear

Halloween, as we know it today, is the result of the transformation and transmission of pagan and Christian beliefs from different eras.

Although there is some debate, several historians point to the Celtic festival of Samhain as the origin of Halloween. The Celts believed that, at this time of year, the dead wandered between their world and that of the living.

Over the centuries, the end of October came to be marked by the return of the dead. Therefore, to ward off the spirits, people would blacken their faces with ash or wear masks. In this way, the living could recognise and interact with the deceased without attracting other dark forces.

As this ritual was passed down through the generations, by the 16th century people began going from door to door to collect ‘soul cakes’ in exchange for prayers. The aim of this practice was to free the souls from their torments so that they might rest in peace and not return to the world of the living.

What happens to us when we feel fear?

Psychology defines fear as an innate emotion involving a biochemical and emotional response designed to alert us to a dangerous situation (whether real or imagined).

Think about the last time you felt fear.

You may have felt your heart beating faster, your breathing becoming more rapid, and you may have started to sweat as if you’d just run a marathon.

Estas reações físicas têm como objetivo preparar-te para ficar imobilizado, confrontar ou fugir do perigo perante o medo.

However, not everyone experiences the same symptoms. The way we experience fear also varies from person to person. Our personality, life experiences and circumstances all influence how we react to a frightening situation.

The most intriguing thing about fear is that it shares the same physiological triggers as excitement. This means that the body can become highly aroused during both an exciting and an unpleasant experience. As people react differently to fear, research has sought to understand what leads some to seek out frightening experiences for fun, whilst others prefer to avoid them.

Why do we seek out frightening experiences?

Humans have always been curious about the unknown or about things they cannot understand. There are several explanations for this phenomenon. One of them is morbid curiosity.

According to the American psychologist Coltan Scrivner, morbid curiosity is a cognitive mechanism for learning about hypothetical threats, aimed at ensuring the survival of the human species. In other words, morbid curiosity enables us to gather information about what happens in life-threatening situations so that we can avoid them.

Halloween, horror films, true-crime documentaries and visits to haunted houses are all ways in which we harness morbid curiosity as a form of entertainment.

Fear in a safety context

In 2020, a group of researchers from Aarhus University in Denmark monitored a group of 110 people who visited a haunted house.

The results revealed an inverted U-shaped relationship between fear and enjoyment at certain points during the experience; in other words, enjoyment tended to be greatest when fear was moderate, decreasing when the intensity was too low or too high. This suggests that, under certain circumstances, a degree of fear can make an experience more exciting, whilst an excessive level can make it unpleasant.

The excitement, the anticipation and the surprise

These are the key ingredients of any good horror film.

In “The Silence of the Lambs”, what terrifies us most about the character of Hannibal Lecter is not what we know he does, but what we do not know. Our brains are constantly searching for clues to anticipate his behaviour and protect ourselves, whilst the narrative leaves us unsure exactly when or how the threat will materialise.

This uncertainty provides enough realism for our bodies to react, whilst we sit comfortably on the sofa in the living room. On the other hand, the shock and fear stem from the anticipation of knowing that something horrific could happen at any moment.

We know this is a good film (as well as the five Oscars it won), because by the end we can say so with a smile on our lips. We can even laugh at the jump we made when we were startled. Once the brain realises we are safe, it becomes possible to release all the built-up tension.

Why don’t everyone enjoy scary experiences?

Whether or not one enjoys scary experiences depends very much on one’s personality and individual background. Whilst some people derive pleasure from the adrenaline rush, others experience prolonged and all-too-real discomfort.

Psychological research has sought to understand why people either love or hate feeling fear purely for the sake of entertainment.

A literature review published in 2019 identified some trends: lower levels of certain dimensions of empathy and a lower propensity to feel fear were associated with greater enjoyment of horror films. However, these relationships are not the same for everyone, nor for all types of content.

Another trend identified was that more empathetic people and those who have experienced traumatic situations tend to shy away from potentially frightening situations. Furthermore, this literature review found, on average, a greater preference for and enjoyment of horror films amongst men and boys, whilst acknowledging that these are trends observed in the studies analysed, rather than universal differences.

Despite the significance of this study’s findings, it is important to note that enjoying the sensation of fear is not the same as enjoying the content that provokes fear. Whilst one person may appreciate the tension and surprise of a film without enjoying violent scenes, another may be curious about real-life crimes without enjoying the sensation of fear.

A sense of control can also influence how we experience a frightening situation. If we know that, despite the fear, we are in a controlled and temporary environment, the experience can become entertainment and fun.

Perhaps that is what makes fear on Halloween so unique: we do not necessarily seek out danger, but rather the thrill of approaching it whilst knowing we can return to safety. And, for some people, that combination is precisely what makes the experience fun.

References

Andersen, M. M., Schjoedt, U., Price, H., Rosas, F. E., Scrivner, C., & Clasen, M. (2020). Playing with fear: A field study in recreational horror. Psychological Science, 31(12), 1497–1510. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797620972116

Coltan Scrivner, The psychology of morbid curiosity: Development and initial validation of the morbid curiosity scale, Personality and Individual Differences, Volume 183, 2021, 111139, ISSN 0191-8869, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2021.111139

Martin GN (2019) (Why) Do You Like Scary Movies? A Review of the Empirical Research on Psychological Responses to Horror Films. Front. Psychol. 10:2298. doi: https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02298

Wiley, J. K., Rivers, A. A., Johnson, O. G., Negraru, C. S., Watson, J. T., Perreault, T. M., Martin, R., Slayton, S. C., Segovia-Palacios, S. I., Stanisky, B. R., Doherty, K. E., & Swan, L. K. (2026). Haunted attraction: The effects of recreational fear on interpersonal bonding. Emotion, 26(3), 519–532. https://doi.org/10.1037/emo0001615

The Celtic Origins of Trick-or-Treating (2024).https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/celtic-origins-trick-treating-halloween-180984916/

It’s happened to all of us, hasn’t it?

That trivial situation that makes us feel a huge ball of anger building up in our chest, rising up our throat, and which only goes away when we snap at whoever’s in front of us.

And before you know it, you’ve already regretted what you said, you feel ashamed of your reaction and guilty for ‘being’ like that…

Yes, it’s happened to me too (more often than I’d like to admit).

And that’s precisely what led me to wonder why on earth I have such intense reactions…

What are intense emotional reactions?

Intense emotional reactions occur whenever your response is greater and stronger than the situation warrants.

Imagine that someone else has taken ‘that’ parking space after you’ve been unable to find any others, or that a comment from your partner hurts you more than you expected, or that ‘that’ outfit you wanted to wear has a huge stain that didn’t come out in the last wash.

Sometimes, one of these simple situations (which are relatively common in our daily lives) is enough to ruin your day and can lead you to:

• Feeling sudden anger;
• Withdrawing from others;
• Feeling intense anxiety;
• Crying for no apparent reason;
• Feeling deeply rejected.

The interesting thing is that, very often, your reaction isn’t just related to what happened in the moment.

In fact, this emotional reactivity is simply your nervous system kicking in to protect you before you even realise what’s happening. In other words, you feel first and think later.

Scientific studies show that the brain reacts in milliseconds, automatically directing attention towards emotional stimuli, particularly negative ones. Furthermore, several studies have shown that negative stimuli trigger more intense and earlier emotional responses.

Why do these intense emotional reactions occur?

It’s not because you have a ‘bad temper’ or ‘anger issues’.

Generally, when your emotional reaction is disproportionate, it means there’s a deeper reason behind it.

Emotions help us to identify dangerous situations, when our emotional needs aren’t being met, and to make sense of what we’re experiencing.

Por isso, a tua reação “exagerada” não é algo do momento; é o resultado final de um longo processo emocional.

In practice, there are several mechanisms that can cause us to react intensely to things that aren’t really important:

Emotional sensibility

Fortunately, we’re not all the same!

Some people have more intense emotional experiences than others, and that’s perfectly fine! Generally, these people show great empathy towards others and a deep emotional self-awareness.

When left unregulated, these (powerful) traits can increase emotional overload.

This is why more sensitive people tend to interpret neutral cues as having huge significance, find criticism deeply hurtful, and react emotionally quickly and intensely.

Stress and nervous system overload

Imagine that stress is a bucket.

Every experience throughout the day fills that bucket a little more.

What happens when the bucket is full? It overflows!

This is exactly what happens when you build up stress from work, from other people’s expectations, from the pressure you put on yourself, from physical tiredness, and so on.

Each of these accumulated experiences overloads the nervous system, causing even the smallest thing to set you off. Ultimately, intense emotional reactions are the result of several factors occurring simultaneously, rather than just a single isolated event.

In situations of chronic stress, the bucket metaphor becomes even more apparent.

With no space to process and recover from day-to-day experiences, the brain becomes more sensitive and reactive to the threats it identifies (which sometimes do not correspond to reality).

This gives rise to the feeling of reacting as if the world were against us. In fact, an overburdened nervous system is simply attacking in self-defence.

Unresolved past

Everything we experience and learn shapes our personality. This is our brain’s opportunity to learn to anticipate potential threats and help us overcome obstacles.

The problem arises when these past experiences are not integrated.

It is as if we remain in limbo for the rest of our lives, searching for the meaning of ‘that’ experience which we still cannot quite understand.

It’s as if something is missing, but we can’t quite put our finger on what it is.

However, even if the brain cannot retrieve the memory of the traumatic event, the body retains that memory, even when you are not consciously aware of it.

Por isso, quando alguém faz um comentário sem qualquer intenção tu interpretas como uma crítica à tua pessoa, ou quando há um conflito surge o medo de rejeição do de abandono.

At times like these, your reaction is swift, automatic and relentless. And until you resolve what’s left behind, you’re likely to continue reacting so intensely. It’s as if the situation were happening right here and now.

This is one of the reasons that might lead you to wonder why you react this way. The truth is that the intensity of your reaction may be reflecting the emotional significance of your past rather than the present moment.

When intensity reveals something deeper

The intensity of your emotions may also be linked to deep-seated emotional difficulties such as persistent anxiety, depressive episodes or experiences that your nervous system has not yet been able to process.

In such cases, your intense emotional reactions may be a sign that you need more support.

If you feel that you frequently have disproportionate reactions that are difficult to control and affect your daily functioning, seeking psychological support may help you.

What should you do when you react disproportionately?

The key is emotional regulation!

This is an extremely important skill that develops throughout our lives and refers to the ability to understand, manage and respond appropriately to what we experience on a daily basis.

If you try to suppress the anger you feel or pretend it doesn’t exist, your intense emotional reactions will only get worse. Instead, it’s important to identify your emotional triggers and understand what your emotions are trying to tell you.

Once you understand the source of your reaction and can put a name to what you’re feeling, it becomes much easier to calm your nervous system.

In the long run, you’ll become better at recognising your emotional triggers, understanding your emotions and coping better with stressful situations. In other words, it’ll take longer for your ‘bucket’ to overflow.

What you can do in practice…

Make room

When you feel like you’re about to lose your temper, it’s important to take a deep breath and give yourself a second or two before responding. If possible, step away physically and respond when your nerves have calmed down.

Name what you feel

Scientific research has shown that naming emotions helps the nervous system to regulate itself by activating the parts of the brain responsible for cognitive control. The clearer you are when identifying emotions, the greater your capacity for self-regulation will be.

Recognising emotional triggers

Understanding the situations that set you off can help you gather important information. So, take a curious look at your triggers and ask yourself why you react so strongly in certain situations. This will help you respond in a more controlled way.

Reduce sources of stress

Can you identify your sources of stress, but don’t know how to reduce them?

• Try to go to bed at the same time every day.
• Set healthy boundaries regarding demands at work.
• Adjust your expectations to reflect reality.

Through these ‘small’ changes, little by little, your body and mind will learn to regain their balance.

Self-compassion

When we react strongly to trivial matters, guilt and shame automatically set in. And so, relentless self-criticism takes hold. We take offence, but we don’t give ourselves the space to understand what triggered that reaction.

If a friend or family member reacted excessively towards you… how would you react?

Perhaps you’d try to understand what prompted that behaviour.

You might even try to help that person get through a difficult time.

Why don’t you do the same for yourself?

Psychological research has shown that self-compassion is linked to high emotional resilience and low levels of anxiety and depression.

Accept that you are a human being with flaws and virtues.

Respond to your own behaviour as if it were someone else’s.

Your emotions are speaking to you!

Intense emotional reactions rarely reflect the moment in which they occur. But without realising this, you may well have thought that you have a ‘bad temper’ and that you’ve ‘always been like this’, as if it were an unchangeable reality.

The truth is that your emotions offer you invaluable insight into your past and your mental health.

Listening to your body and recognising when a disproportionate reaction is taking place will help you find the most appropriate strategies for each moment, so that you can feel balanced.

Perhaps the problem isn’t the intensity of your reaction, but rather what it is trying to show you.

References

https://repositorio.ulisboa.pt/entities/publication/f6cb2553-6708-477a-a553-386d2b34b331

https://repositorio.ulisboa.pt/entities/publication/65cbfa86-e939-4882-bb1a-14ff89a63001

https://sanlab.psych.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/31/2015/05/Lieberman_AL-2007.pdf

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1697260021000107?via%3Dihub

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2212144723001205

When we grow up without anyone helping us to understand how we feel, we think that’s normal – that it’s like that in every family.

In one way or another, we grow up believing that it’s normal to decipher other people’s micro-expressions to keep ourselves safe.

We think it’s normal to shut ourselves off, swallow our tears and carry on, keeping up the ‘everything’s fine’ façade.

We do all this without even realising it. We only realise it when we’re adults and understand that we grew up alone.

Emotional neglect is a reality for many children, teenagers and even adults. It is often invisible and difficult to diagnose, but its impact can be overwhelming.

What is emotional neglect?

Emotional neglect is a pattern of behaviour that occurs when parents (or the primary carer) devalue or ignore a child’s emotional needs.

The main difference between emotional neglect and emotional abuse is intent.

In cases of emotional abuse, there is a deliberate intention to deny the child the support they need. In contrast, emotional neglect involves a lack of support that is often unconscious.

A child may be well looked after physically and medically, but may not receive the same quality of emotional care.

This pattern and its consequences are very subtle. Parents often do not realise the impact their behaviour has on the child. At the same time, other adult carers, such as teachers, may find it difficult to identify what is happening, as the symptoms are only obvious in severe cases.

What is the source of emotional neglect?

If you recognise yourself in what you’ve just read, it’s only natural that you’d want to understand why. After all, you were just a child behaving as children do. You deserved to have received the attention you needed.

The aim here is to understand (not to excuse or justify) your parents’ behaviour towards you. The answer is more complex than you might imagine. And it rarely has a single cause.

In many cases, parents find it difficult to understand or manage a child’s emotional needs. It is even possible that they themselves were emotionally neglected. Throughout their lives, they become fixated on their own unmet needs, ignore their children’s needs and become incapable of putting themselves in the child’s shoes.

Emotional neglect can also occur in situations involving depression, addiction, mental health disorders or a lack of healthy parenting skills.

When it comes to being a parent, it is very difficult to give our children something we were never taught or that our own mental state does not allow us to provide.

Perhaps that is why you suffered emotional neglect.

It was never your fault.

But perhaps it wasn’t your parents’ fault either.

What happens when we grow up without room for emotions?

If you grew up in an unstable environment, where you felt that your presence mattered little or not at all, it is possible that you suffered emotional neglect.

What you always thought was ‘normal’ wasn’t, after all. And you are most likely wondering whether what you are reading is really what you experienced.

There is no medical or psychological assessment that can confirm whether someone was emotionally neglected as a child.

However, the scientific literature has identified several symptoms of emotional neglect.

As a child, it is likely that your behaviour swung between extremes of aggression and passivity, that you behaved in a manner that was either too mature or too childish for your age, and that you exhibited symptoms of depression or difficulty forming secure attachments.

Now, as an adult, you may be hypersensitive to perceived signs of rejection, have disproportionate reactions to stressful situations, avoid negative emotions, and find it difficult to trust others or express your feelings.

Some people also experience symptoms of depression and find it difficult to form and maintain new relationships. All these symptoms can lead to perfectionism, low self-esteem and severe self-criticism.

Furthermore, there may be a tendency to remain in abusive and unstable relationships, engage in co-dependent behaviour, develop addictions, be sexually promiscuous, and go out of your way to please others at the expense of your own needs.

How to move beyond a past of emotional neglect?

Recovering from emotional neglect in childhood takes time and self-compassion.

At this stage, it is important to recognise what happened, what you felt in the past and what you feel now. Your emotions are not just ‘things’ in your head – your emotions were and are real.

In situations like these, psychological support is the best tool for understanding your past and realising how it affects you now. With the help of a psychologist, you’ll be able to put a name to what you’re feeling, develop self-compassion and self-acceptance, and learn to set healthy boundaries.

Looking after your emotional wellbeing through mindfulness and meditation, writing or other activities you enjoy can help you express and process your emotions.

If you’d like to take it a step further, here are some practical exercises you can incorporate into your daily life:

Developing emotional awareness

Learning to identify and name your emotions will help you build a deeper connection with yourself and better understand your emotional needs.

Ask yourself what you’re feeling. If you can’t answer, try to identify basic emotions. This will be your starting point for exploring the complexity of your emotions. If you get the chance, write down what you’re feeling and thinking. This will help you express your emotions more effectively.

Speak to you with compassion

Talking to yourself as if you were talking to someone else is an excellent strategy for accepting yourself just as you are. Without judgement. It can help to replace negative thoughts with supportive affirmations, and repeat them whenever you put yourself down.

Get in touch with your inner child

This is perhaps one of the most difficult exercises, but also one of the most powerful: embracing your inner child. The aim is to recognise and accept that the wounds of the past are still open.

Imagine you are talking to your childhood ‘self’: the child who felt ignored and unloved. Now imagine yourself as an adult, embracing that child and telling them that their feelings are valid and that you are here to protect and listen. It will certainly be a very emotional moment for you. Do not feel guilty or ashamed. Let the emotions flow.

Moving on...

Psychological support, meditation or even the exercises I’ve described will help you cope with your emotions.

However, this doesn’t mean you’ll be immune to the pain caused by the lack of love and attention you didn’t receive in the past. From time to time, you may feel more overwhelmed, but by then you’ll already have the tools you need to deal with the past.

Growing up without room for emotions doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with you. It simply means you were never taught how to feel them.

References

Kacper Wilk, Anna Starowicz, Magdalena Szczecińska, Magdalena Budziszewska, Childhood emotional neglect and its relationship with well-being: Mediation analyses, European Journal of Trauma & Dissociation, Volume 8, Issue 3, 2024, 100434, ISSN 2468-7499, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejtd.2024.100434.

Liu, L., Ning, B. & Yang, L. Childhood psychological abuse and neglect impair adolescent social-emotional competence: a network analysis with mediation. BMC Psychol 13, 1279 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-025-03615-x 

Herrero-Roldán S, Martín-Rodríguez A. Neglect and Neurodevelopment: A Narrative Review Understanding the Link Between Child Neglect and Executive Function Deficits. Biomedicines. 2025 Jun 26;13(7):1565. doi: 10.3390/biomedicines13071565. PMID: 40722641; PMCID: PMC12292309.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12292309

Infurna, M.R., Fazio, L., Bevacqua, E. et al. Understanding the relationship between childhood emotional abuse and neglect and psychological distress in pregnant women: the role of prenatal attachment. BMC Psychol 12, 520 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-024-02024-w

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.

Todos estes sintomas têm apenas um objetivo… preparar-te para a ação. O problema é que a realidade não é tão ameaçadora quanto o teu cérebro te fez acreditar.

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

Se cresceste num ambiente imprevisível, muito provavelmente passaste a maior parte do teu tempo a antecipar o que iria acontecer. Foi a estratégia que encontraste para sobreviver. Por isso, desenvolveste uma capacidade impressionante para prever todos os cenários possíveis.

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