Let’s Talk About… Catastrophising

By Jeremy Godwin

What is catastrophising? What’s the relationship between anxiety and catastrophising? And how can you stop catastrophic thinking? That’s what I’m talking about this week here on… Let’s Talk About Mental Health — the weekly podcast about looking after your wellbeing, with simple ideas you can put into practice immediately. So, get comfortable, and Let’s Talk About Mental Health…

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This podcast episode was originally released on 27 November, 2022.

Hello and welcome to Episode 157, and thanks so much for joining me as I talk about catastrophising and mental health!

I’m Jeremy Godwin and I share simple ideas for better mental health. 

I spent most of the 2010’s dealing with severe anxiety and depression, after a breakdown in late 2011, which led me to want to learn more about my mental health… so I went back to school and studied psychology and sociology, and now I share simple mental health tips for how to improve your wellbeing, from someone who actually understands what it’s like to go through mental health challenges. 

Each week I look at how to improve one specific aspect of your wellbeing. In this episode I’ll be talking about what catastrophising is (and what it isn’t), why understanding it matters, and how to manage catastrophising in a healthy way. 

Before we start, my new book Life Advice That Doesn’t Suck! is out now from Amazon in print or eBook or from Apple Books in eBook format. In this new book I share 365 simple ways to live a more satisfying life so you can either read the whole thing all at once, or visit it every day for a year to help you take small steps (or you can do both!). It makes the perfect gift for yourself or for a loved one, and you can find it linked in the episode description or visit letstalkaboutmentalhealth.com.au. 

So, with that covered, let’s talk about catastrophising!

Introduction

In the classic fable Henny Penny, also known as Chicken Little, the title character is convinced that the sky was falling after an acorn hits them in the head and becomes completely obsessed with telling everyone and anyone who would listen; a delightfully-warped example of how panic and hysteria can very quickly get out of hand, since a bunch of other characters quickly become swept up in the drama of it all (and, as a side note here, why were all those fables and children’s stories so warped?!).

I recently needed to go to the doctor to have a spot on my face checked, and in the lead-up to the appointment (which I had put off making for several weeks) I felt sick to my stomach and began to consider all of the possible worst-case scenarios. When the doctor checked it and told me it was fine and completely benign I actually questioned him because I didn’t believe it, leading him to show me the scan he took to reassure me. While I don’t necessarily think that my reaction was completely unreasonable, given that the spot had changed colour a couple of months earlier, what took me by surprise was my willingness to jump straight to the worst possible outcome and then how much of a shock it was for that to not be the case (don’t get me wrong, I’m thrilled it was all clear but at the time I couldn’t really process it). Part of that is because my anxiety has been through the roof lately, so much so that we agreed in that appointment that I should go back on anti-anxiety medication for the first time in over five years… actually, maybe six years, so needless to say that my anxiety was definitely preventing me from seeing things as clearly as I might otherwise have seen them and there was certainly a fair bit of catastrophising going on.

So aside from being a tough word to pronounce, what is this catastrophising business all about? Well, let’s get into some definitions and let’s talk about…

What is catastrophising?

And it basically describes the tendency to think that the worst-case scenario is most likely to happen, or believing that a situation is considerably worse than it actually is. 

According to PsychCentral, and I quote:

“Catastrophizing involves thinking that the worst will happen after actions or events you experience in your life. [Although] considering the consequences of a decision or life event is a regular part of thinking things through… if you find yourself unable to stop thinking about the worst possible outcome, no matter how improbable, you’re catastrophizing.”

And you’ll find that article linked in the transcript on my website at letstalkaboutmentalhealth.com.au/episodes. [Find the article here: https://psychcentral.com/lib/what-is-catastrophizing]

Look, we all have negative thoughts from time to time… however some of us may find our thoughts going into a spiral of negativity and our minds can take a random event and turn it into evidence of how everything is about to go to total crap; often our minds can take a situation and blow it completely out of proportion which, of course, makes things feel even worse because then we end up feeling even more negativity!

The thing is that, whether we care to admit it or not, we human beings tend to default to negative thinking or worried thinking as a means of self-preservation; there’s an entire thing in psychology called the negativity bias which describes our tendency to not only notice the negative more than the positive but also to dwell on negative events and situations a lot more. To quote VeryWell Mind:

“This psychological phenomenon explains why bad first impressions can be so difficult to overcome and why past traumas can have such long lingering effects. In almost any interaction, we are more likely to notice negative things and later remember them more vividly.

As humans, we tend to:

• Remember traumatic experiences better than positive ones.
• Recall insults better than praise.
• React more strongly to negative stimuli.
• Think about negative things more frequently than positive ones.
• Respond more strongly to negative events than to equally positive ones.”

And you’ll find that article linked in the transcript. https://www.verywellmind.com/negative-bias-4589618#toc-what-is-the-negativity-bias 

That bias towards the negative does go quite some way towards explaining why we keep on tuning into the news day after day when it’s full of gleeful declarations of gloom and doom, and why throughout history there have been so many overly-enthusiastic predictions of the end of days (to be fair, that’s still happening today and I’m sure there are plenty of people currently holed up in a bunker in the middle of nowhere waiting for the next expected catastrophe). 

So that leads me to what it isn’t, and catastrophising isn’t a mental health disorder in and of itself; it’s commonly associated with depression as well as anxiety disorders like generalised anxiety (or GAD), post-traumatic stress disorder (or PTSD) and obsessive compulsive disorder (or OCD), but it’s not its own type of disorder, and it’s also common for people living with chronic pain to experience catastrophising about their condition. And then the other thing I want to say here is that catastrophising isn’t evidence of your instinct or intuition at play (and instinct was the subject of Episode 156 last week). So, now let’s talk about…

Why understanding catastrophising matters

And it matters because of that ‘spiral’ thing I mentioned a few moments ago; when you go into catastrophising mode you will commonly start thinking that the most random and remote possibility is actually a certainty, which then triggers off your fears and insecurities, which then feeds into the whole catastrophic idea that’s going on in your mind, which then creates a downward spiral of fear and negativity that begins to feed off itself, and before you know it you’re hunkering down in a hole in the backyard with a solar torch and a year’s supply of baked beans while you wait for the zombies to arrive. 

Now I don’t mean to make light of catastrophising, because it’s a serious situation and I know first-hand how awful it can feel (especially since this is one of my defaults whenever my anxiety is particularly bad), but I’m also not going to shy away from making the point that the majority of the things we panic about are completely and utterly ridiculous. 

We might find ourselves thinking that our entire lives are definitely going to fall to pieces because of one interaction or a specific mistake that we made, and the fact is that it’s just not true; you have a greater likelihood of walking down the street and receiving a phone call to tell you that you got the lead in a movie you never auditioned for and then having a safe dropped on you from above (seriously, what was with all the safe dropping and falling pianos in cartoons and movies when I was a kid? They really led me to believe it was going to be much more of a problem in adulthood than it turned out to be, just like quicksand — which I’m yet to see anywhere outside of a Bugs Bunny rerun!). 

Anyway, my point is that things are unlikely to be as bad as what our hyper-negative, catastrophically-thinking minds want us to believe they will be when we’re in an agitated or highly-emotional state. Remember what I said before when I pointed out the ‘possibility versus certainty’ thing; anything in life is possible, but the only absolute certainties are death, taxes and change (oh, and reality stars making a fool of themselves on social media). 

Here’s the thing I really want you to take away from all of this: most of your worries will never happen. We often spend so much time worrying about things that we forget to take a step back and look at the actual likelihood of whether or not they will really ever eventuate; frankly, you have a higher chance of winning the lottery than you do of having the things you worry about come true! Instead of letting worry distract you, you can choose to notice those thoughts and label them. That way you’ll find it easier to calm yourself (instead of trying to resist the thoughts, which rarely works) and you can just let those worried thoughts pass by you with ease. Remember: thoughts are not facts. 

So with all of that in mind, now let’s get into the how-to part of today’s episode and let’s talk about… 

How to manage catastrophising in a healthy way

First, pause and breathe — and no surprises that I started with this one, because it’s one of the most common bits of advice I give simply because it’s often the most effective. When you’re filled with nervous mental and emotional energy you need to do something to circuit-break that, and so stopping in order to reset your focus can make a huge difference. I don’t know if you know this specific reference but quite a few countries talk about ‘stop, drop and roll’ when it comes to fire safety, and I like to apply that idea to catastrophising: immediately stop what you’re doing, drop your attention to your breathing, and roll through at least a minute of conscious gentle breath work before you do anything else. OK, next…

Put it into context — because it might feel like you’re dealing with an issue or mistake of monumental proportions, but I guarantee you that it’s not the end of the world and I’d even go so far as to say that you’re probably not going to remember the specifics in five months, let alone five years. Like I said earlier, we tend to default to the worst-case scenario in things and yet when you step back and look at things in relation to the bigger picture of your life you’ll usually see that it’s not as much of a catastrophe as it feels like. One way to help you do that is my next point…

Write it out — and this is another one that I talk about a lot, and I do so because that kind of anxious or nervous energy will just go around and around and around in your head unless you let it out; I mean, when you think about it, energy has to go somewhere, and so you can either let it stay in your mind going around and around in circles and picking up speed as it goes or you can express it by writing it out (and when I say “writing it” I mean actually writing, with a pen and paper, because that allows you to physically channel that energy somewhere rather than allowing it to stay trapped inside you). OK, next…

Delayed action — because you might be tempted to try and act on your fears or insecurities, or to address a perceived issue to try and fix the situation, but given that you will likely be feeling highly emotional (since that’s what tends to happen when we are catastrophising, since we’re focused on the worst case scenario) this is most definitely not the time to try and take action because it’s going to be driven by pure emotion and is very unlikely to include any kind of logical or rational decision-making. Emotions are important, and they play a big role in our lives, but when we make decisions purely based on emotion, we are not able to think through the bigger picture or the potential consequences of our choices, and so things can just end up being a great big mess! Part of the previous point of writing things out is to get the emotions out of your head, but also to allow yourself time to then step back and delay taking any action until you’ve had a chance to think about things more rationally; that’s going to buy you some time, and it’s going to help your emotions to settle down before you go any further. And speaking of next steps, my next point is…

Objectively assess your fears — so, once you feel more calm, it’s time to apply some logical thinking. Take a look at each of your catastrophic thoughts one by one and ask yourself, “how likely is this to really happen?” Like I said earlier, anything is possible but there’s a huge difference between possible and likely; of course it’s possible I could win a Grammy, but since I can’t carry a tune it’s not particularly likely unless the entire population went tone-deaf! You might also find it helpful to actively challenge your fears by considering alternate options or possibilities; for example, the catastrophic thought might be that everything will go wrong and you’ll fail completely, but what would happen if everything went right and you succeeded? By identifying alternative possible outcomes and imagining what they would look and feel like, you’re deliberately taking your focus away from the catastrophic thoughts and turning your attention towards other things. OK, next…

Talk about it — and this is similar to my earlier point about writing it out to get it out, but I’m adding this in simply as an alternative option to remind you that sometimes we just need to talk to someone and sometimes we just need to get things off our chest, for no other reason than wanting to be seen and heard as a human being. The people who love you, and who support you, are not going to ridicule you for having fears and insecurities; the people who genuinely love you are going to be kind and supportive, and they’re going to help you find solutions rather than allowing you to dwell on problems (and that is exactly what you need when you’re in a catastrophising headspace, because it’s by finding solutions that we begin to lessen the hold that these kinds of thoughts have over us). And that leads to my next point…

Consider what you would tell a close friend — I’m sure you’ve been in the situation of having to talk a good friend through a problem they’re dealing with, or lending a sympathetic ear as they navigate through a crisis, and of course that’s when you’re able to pull out suggestions that are grounded in kindness, support and understanding… so why then is it so hard to do that for yourself?! I want you to think about what kind of advice or guidance you might offer to a friend who is dealing with something similar to what you’re going through, and then give that advice to yourself so you can apply it to your situation. Alright, so my next point is…

Remind yourself of your past success — you know that post that seems to make its way around the internet once every few weeks or so that says you’ve survived 100% of your worst days so far? It might be a bit cheesy but it’s true; you really have made it through all of your previous challenges and so, based on those odds, you are very likely to make it through this current one; I’m not really a gambling man, other than the odd lottery ticket, but that sounds like a sure bet that I’d put money on! Look, catastrophic thinking is a self protection mechanism and it’s your mind trying to ensure that you survive; based on the fact that clear and objective evidence proves you have survived previous problems and issues, can you see why reminding yourself of that fact, and of your previous successes, is going to help you to recognise your ability to survive this one as well? OK, so my next point is… 

Focus on solutions — because whether you look for problems or you look for solutions, what you seek is what you will find. In any situation where you find yourself stuck, it’s going to be incredibly helpful to turn your focus to possible solutions to an issue or problem because that will create a more positive focus and it will also help you to find a way to move forward by looking for opportunities (and I covered opportunity in Episode 119). How do you do that? Well, that’s what my next point is all about and it is… 

Look at what is within your direct control — because a lot of the things that we worry about are completely outside of our control, and so no amount of stressing over them, or catastrophic thinking, is ever going to change that fact; you have direct control over what you do and say, as well as what you choose to do with your emotions, and that’s it. End of sentence! You can absolutely influence external events and other people (and I highly encourage you to do so, especially where it’s related to important causes that affect all of us), but since you have no direct control over what does or doesn’t happen, all you can really do is make your peace with that fact and instead turn your focus to what you can control. I talked about control back in Episode 48 if you’d like to explore that further plus you may also find Episode 135, about choices, to be helpful as well. OK, next… 

Focus on one step at a time — because one of the biggest challenges of being in a problem-focused headspace is that it can be hard to see the forest for the trees; in other words, the problem or issue can feel so overwhelming that it might feel virtually impossible to find a way out of it. Rather than trying to fix everything all at once, or feeling that you have to have all of the answers immediately, instead come up with a plan of what needs to be done, break it down into the smallest-possible steps, and then simply focus on one step at a time. What that does is it helps to reduce the sense of overwhelm (because if you’re trying to focus on the entire problem or issue all at once, it’s probably going to feel fairly huge and difficult to deal with) and it also helps you to make progress at a calmer and more thoughtful pace. By the way, this is one of those pieces of advice that applies to pretty much anything; when you simply focus on taking things one step at a time, and one day at a time, it’s going to make it far less overwhelming for you to have to deal with whatever you’ve got going on in your life (and I talked about overwhelm in Episode 147 if you’d like to explore that topic further). Okay next…

Label your thoughts — and this is a technique that really helps you to observe your thoughts more objectively in order to look at them in a rational and detached way. For example, you might say to yourself “I am feeling fearful” or “I feel worried at the moment,” and that can then lead you through a thought process of identifying why you feel fearful or worried. Just remember that catastrophic thought processes are a self-protection mechanism so instead of trying to resist, which is very unlikely to work, instead go with it in the sense of labelling the thought and thanking your brain for trying to protect you, and then assuring your mind that you are safe and in control. I talked about thoughts back in Episode 123 if you’d like to dig deeper on this topic, but in general this feels like a good place to remind you yet again that thoughts are not facts (and, while I’m at it, let me remind you that you cannot accurately predict the future — no-one can — and so the likelihood of your fears turning into reality is so low that there’s a greater chance of unicorns flying through the sky while doing a triple somersault!). OK, next…

Take a break if you feel overwhelmed — because sometimes you just need a break, so take one if you need it! Very few things are so critical that you need to make a decision or take action on the spot, so buy yourself a few hours or even an entire day or two before you come back and look at the issue with fresh eyes; doing so will usually give your emotions time to settle down which will then make you feel calmer.

OK, so now here are a few quick-fire suggestions of things you can focus on to proactively manage your mindset and reduce the likelihood of ending up in a catastrophising headspace (because prevention is always better than cure!):

• Build your self compassion — because the kinder and more understanding you are towards yourself, the more likely it is that you’ll be able to view problems in a calmer way (and I talked about self compassion in Episode 153)
• Next, practice mindfulness — because it helps to ground you, even with just a few short minutes a day, and it teaches you how to observe your thoughts like I discussed earlier (and I covered mindfulness in Episode 42)
• Next, be consciously present — because a lot of our worries and fears are focused on the future or on past events, but life is lived here and now so turning your attention to the present helps you to find greater calm and peace of mind (and I explained how to be more present in Episode 83)
• Next, set aside regular time for worry if you need it — because if you’re prone to worry then allowing yourself some structured time to focus on it (for example, by writing it out) but limiting yourself to that time can help to contain your thinking and give you a greater sense of self control (and I covered worry in Episode 95 and self control in Episode 133)
• Next, journal regularly — because it’s a great way to express your thoughts (and like I said earlier, getting it out is better than letting those types of worries or fears just go around and around in your head!), so spend a few minutes each day doing a brain-dump of what’s on your mind about the day in order to release it
• And then my next tip is seek treatment and ongoing support — and this is especially recommended if you’re prone to catastrophic thinking; like I said earlier, catastrophising is commonly associated with a number of mental health conditions so it’s best to work with your doctor and a mental health professional in order to manage your situation. These sorts of conditions have a tendency to escalate very quickly if left unaddressed, so remember that you don’t have to go through challenging times alone and nor should you.

Summary and Close-Out

Because when it comes to catastrophising and mental health, what it all boils down to is this: sometimes our minds can become fixed on the worst case scenario, or can focus on possible futures that we’re convinced are going to happen, but there is an enormous difference between possible and likely. Catastrophic thinking focuses on what we believe is most likely to happen, however it’s only one of an infinite number of possibilities and the fact is that you cannot accurately predict the future, and so logic (and past experience) suggests the future is very unlikely to turn out the way that your fears and insecurities imagine it. Rather than allowing yourself to be swept away by negative thoughts, instead focus on the positive and look for solutions to help you move forward.

The choice is yours, as it is with all things related to your wellbeing… so, what choice will YOU make today? 

Each week I like to finish up by sharing a quote about the week’s topic, and I encourage you to take a few moments to really reflect on it and consider what it means to you.

This week’s quote is by Rudyard Kipling, and it is:

“Of all the liars in the world, sometimes the worst are your own fears.”

Rudyard Kipling

Alright… that’s nearly it for this week.

Next time I’ll be talking about loss of control. It’s human nature to want to feel like we’re in total control of our lives and our destiny, and yet often the reality is that the things that happen to us and around us are completely out of our control. So how do you deal with a loss of control? Well, next time I’ll be talking about what loss of control is (and what it isn’t), why approaching it thoughtfully matters, and how to manage a loss of control in a considered way.

I hope you’ll join me for that episode which will be released on Sunday the 4th of December, 2022. 

You’ll find many more practical mental health tips in my book, Let’s Talk About Mental Health (Volume One), and in my new book Life Advice That Doesn’t Suck!, which are both available from Amazon and Apple Books, and visit my website at letstalkaboutmentalhealth.com.au to sign up for my free newsletter Thursday Thoughts for a weekly dose of inspiration.

Become a supporter on Patreon for exclusive extra benefits, including early access to podcast episodes, and follow my podcast on Instagram @ltamentalhealth plus check out my other account, @jeremygodwinofficial, where I post daily tips sharing Life Advice That Doesn’t Suck — and those are all linked in the episode description on your podcast service.

Thank you very much for joining me today — look after yourself and make a conscious effort to share positivity and kindness in the world, because you get back what you put out. Take care and talk to you next time!

Jeremy 🙂

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Let’s Talk About Mental Health.
Simple ideas for better mental health.

Let’s Talk About Mental Health. © 2022 Jeremy Godwin.

The information provided in this episode is for general awareness on the topic and does not constitute advice. You should consult a doctor and/or a mental health professional if you are struggling with your mental health and wellbeing. You’ll find additional information on the Resources page of this website.