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Learning about Cognitive Distortions: Distortion No.1: Catastrophizing

Hope October 2nd, 2023

Hi everyone! I hope you are doing well. Last week I announced the cognitive distortion series. You can read about it here.

Today we will be looking at the first cognitive distortion of the series, ‘catastrophizing’. Catastrophizing is when a person focuses on the worst possible outcome and treats it as likely, even when it is not. Some common examples:

  • I am not feeling better after this treatment. I will never get better.
  • I will for sure fail this test because I forgot to study chapter X.
  • I could not keep up with my exercise regime, I will never become physically fit.
  • I have not been able to keep in touch with my friend. I bet he is no longer my friend
  • I forgot to put the right spacing in my essay. That's it, there goes my A in this course.

Other names for the distortion are magnifying, and negative fortune telling.

We get what catastrophizing is now and it's likely we all do it, some more than others. But how do we tackle this, how do we stop assuming the worst possible outcome?

We can do this by engaging in the following:

(Taken from Glen’s post on How to Worry Less and Not Panic)

  • What are the odds: On a scale of 1-100%, how likely is this to happen? “Okay, if I had $1000 in my pocket now, would I bet that $1000 that this would happen?” If the answer is no, then it is likely that I am worrying too much about it.
  • Your Personal Hit Rate: Think about how often you are right when you think of the worst-case scenarios. Don’t be selective and remember the times you were right, try to think of all the times. Chances are it's less than 2%. Then does it make sense to consider something as true when your past predicting success rate is just 2%?


To truly practice reframing your thoughts when it comes to this cognitive distortion. Let's experiment for a week together!

  1. Start a doc/take out a notebook.
  2. Write down your personal hit rate on top of the doc/page so you can remember your level of accuracy as you look at your daunting problems.
  3. Every time you are thinking of the worst outcome, write down what is on your mind.
  4. Then write down another opposing (positive thought) that you believe to be true. This can be hard but if you think enough, you will find it! It helps to look into facts to support your case


Due to the nature of these exercises, it is advisable that any interested listeners use their member accounts so they can freely share their experiences.

What we are attempting to do is to nudge our minds away from jumping to the worst possible conclusions and present some realistic alternatives that cause us less anguish.


📢Points of Action: (Actual tasks you will need to complete if you wish to avail the series certificate, only available for a limited time)

  1. Find out your personal hit rate, don’t just assume, look into your past and get an accurate percentage.
  2. Counter your catastrophic thoughts with counter-positive thoughts based on logic/facts/experience.
  3. After practicing this with at least one thought. Tell us about your experience with this exercise.


📝To help us get started. Let's all share about a time when we truly believed the worst possible outcome or a very bad outcome was likely but it did not happen. (This is not the task, it is for general discussion, a place for you to start off if you feel stuck)


Recommended Resources:

Post edited on Nov 21, 2024 to clarify required tasks. 


58
daydreammemories October 17th

@Hope

  1. Find out your personal hit rate, don’t just assume, look into your past and get an accurate percentage.
    i guess 10 percent
  2. Counter your catastrophic thoughts with counter-positive thoughts based on logic/facts/experience.
    i would definitely fail this exam >>> i had many exams which were successful and one failure doesnt define me
  3. After practicing this with at least one thought. Tell us about your experience with this exercise.

i guess its really important to look at things in a realistic perspective, i know its hard when the situation is bad, but thats where we need it the most 

📝To help us get started. Let's all share about a time when we truly believed the worst possible outcome or a very bad outcome was likely but it did not happen.
i thought i would fail but i didnt. 

1 reply
Hope OP 21 hours ago

@daydreammemories

Thank you for taking part. 

The fear of failing exams seems to a common theme! 

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CordialDancer October 23rd

@Hope

Points of Action:

Find out your personal hit rate, don’t just assume, look into your past and get an accurate percentage.

That one is tough, to gauge for me. I will have to think about that more.

Counter your catastrophic thoughts with counter-positive thoughts based on logic/facts/experience.

If you make a mistake, you will be disliked... If you make a mistake, it is a reminder you are human and normal. 

After practicing this with at least one thought. Tell us about your experience with this exercise.

This exercise is helpful for me in grounding myself in reality. It shows the facts and reminds me that the worst possible outcome is not usually likely. 

To help us get started. Let's all share about a time when we truly believed the worst possible outcome or a very bad outcome was likely but it did not happen.

Recently, I was a little worried that someone did not like me because of a potential misunderstanding. That turned out to not be the case, and all has been well!

1 reply
Hope OP 21 hours ago

@CordialDancer

What an important point about being human and making mistakes!

I am glad that was just a misunderstanding!

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Sparkle8888 October 26th

@Hope

📝To help us get started. Let's all share about a time when we truly believed the worst possible outcome or a very bad outcome was likely but it did not happen.

I thought I would not be able to write my exam properly. But I ended up passing my exam. 

Sparkle8888 October 26th

@Hope

  1. Find out your personal hit rate, don’t just assume, look into your past and get an accurate percentage.  5 %
  2. Counter your catastrophic thoughts with counter-positive thoughts based on logic/facts/experience.  Catastrophic thoughts include the following: I made a mistake. What am I going to do? ( Thinking negatively that since I have made a mistake, I am a bad person and I must suffer.) Counterpositive thoughts include: Nobody is right in this world. It's okay to make mistakes. Don't repeat them. Learn from your mistakes(Positive Self-talk). I can do this. The only thing that is stopping me is myself. I am capable of doing things.
  3. After practicing this with at least one thought. Tell us about your experience with this exercise. This exercise is very effective. I feel much better and confident. I was able to identify my irrational thinking patterns and rephrase them into more positive ones.

1 reply
Hope OP 21 hours ago

@Sparkle8888

I am seeing a pattern of people struggling with making mistakes. It can be challenging to deal with as a human being. 

I like that positive self talk!


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Phoenixthepoised November 2nd

@Hope

Find out your personal hit rate, don’t just assume, look into your past and get an accurate percentage.

I think I’m going to take some time to reflect on my past predictions of worst-case scenarios. And I’m certainly curious to see what my actual hit rate is!

Counter your catastrophic thoughts with counter-positive thoughts based on logic/facts/experience.

That would be, “I’m going to fail my next exam because I didn’t study enough.” Then, I’ll counter that thought with positive affirmations based on my experiences like “I’ve done well on exams before even when I felt unprepared and I still have time to review the material.”

After practicing this with at least one thought. Tell us about your experience with this exercise.

This practice helped me recognize that my fears were often exaggerated. I realized that reframing my thoughts made a real difference in how I approached my upcoming exam.

To help us get started. Let's all share about a time when we truly believed the worst possible outcome or a very bad outcome was likely but it did not happen.

I remember a time when I was really anxious about a project presentation in college. I had worked hard on my research, but as the date got closer, my doubts started creeping in. I imagined messing up, stumbling over my words, and losing the audience’s interest. I was convinced that I was going to mess it up completely. I was convinced that I was going to mess it up completely. But in the end, I received positive feedback and it felt amazing to realize that my fears were mostly unfounded.

1 reply
Hope OP 21 hours ago

@Phoenixthepoised

Thank you for sharing your experience! Public speaking is one of the most challenging things to do so I can imagine how hard that must have been. Glad it went well!

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@Hope

Points of Action:

Find out your personal hit rate, don’t just assume, look into your past and get an accurate percentage.

The issue is selective thinking for me, it is always easier to remember when bad things did happen, not when they didn't. I would say that my hit rate is around 10 percent for BIG issues (like, when I was going to the UK and with the conflict going on expected to be turned down at the border, despite all the paperwork bwing in place. I imagined nevwr being able to entwr again and see my child. This, of course, did not happen, though I was already prepared for an emotional call to explain why I can't visit anymore) and slightly less accurate for smaller issues. 

Counter your catastrophic thoughts with counter-positive thoughts based on logic/facts/experience.

neg: My partner started a new job and is meeting a lot of new people, he will meet someone better and leave me.  Pos: my partner will enjoy his work environment and make acquaintances that may be beneficial for his career, and can also become my acquaintances, widening our social circle. 

After practicing this with at least one thought. Tell us about your experience with this exercise.

Frankly, this is a struggle for me to think of the positives, it seems like it is self-deception and hiding my head in the sand. i think i need to work more on internalising positive thoughts. 

To help us get started. Let's all share about a time when we truly believed the worst possible outcome or a very bad outcome was likely but it did not happen.

My partner and I are both expats and when his postdoc position ended, he was looking for a job. if he didnt find it, he would ha e to leave the country. He invited me to go, but I was scared to leave my own job, mt settles life here. So, in my mind I imagined a long distance arrangement that would inevitably fail and lead to a heart-breaking separation and mutual blame. This did not happen, he found a job quite easily and we are still living together. 

2 replies
Hope OP 20 hours ago

@Healtogether702

Selective thinking can be so hard. Wow that UK experience sounds so challenging, how hard that must have been for you. I am glad that did not happen

I like that you acknowledge the need to internalize positive thoughts. 

It looks like you have a pattern of catastrophizing, it is great that you are aware of it and I hope with practice you can naturally think less of the negative outcomes. 

I wonder if you also struggle with rumination. Sometimes that leads to these intense negative thoughts. You may want to check out this video (The channel is focused on OCD but the information is relevant for general rumination too)

1 reply
Healtogether702 19 hours ago

@HopeThank you for all your replies. 

You are absolutely right, rumination is one of mine as well, I have them all.🤭 funnily enough, I can easily recognise it in myself and others, but that doesn't  always automatically mean that my instinctive reaponse isn't within the flawed cycle. It does give me more control to know that I created these thoughts, therefore I can change them. The series helped with that a lot, actually countering negative thoughts with positive ones. In day-to-day scenarios I usually skip that step, but I will make an effort to rewire by substituting negative with positive. Thanks for the video link again.  

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Let's all share about a time when we truly believed the worst possible outcome or a very bad outcome was likely but it did not happen.

Sometimes I tend to overreact when my body feels a new pain that it either hasn't felt before or hasn't felt in quite some time. My brain automatically thinks that something bad is about to happen health wise. I'll end up going to the doctor's office and it'll turn out to be something minor. Lol. I know it's not healthy to catastrophize, so I am slowly working on it. 

By the way, my personal hit rate is extremely low. 

2 replies
Hope OP 20 hours ago

@YourCaringConfidant

Pain can be so challenging especially if you have had a bad past experience with it.  Health anxiety can be super challenging!

I think you may be struggling with rumination. That is often the case with health anxiety. You may want to check out this video (The channel is focused on OCD but the information is relevant for general rumination too)

A reminder to please complete these tasks if you are working towards the certificate 

📢Points of Action:

  1. Find out your personal hit rate, don’t just assume, look into your past and get an accurate percentage.
  2. Counter your catastrophic thoughts with counter-positive thoughts based on logic/facts/experience.
  3. After practicing this with at least one thought. Tell us about your experience with this exercise.

1 reply
YourCaringConfidant 20 hours ago

@Hope Thank you for that short video about not engaging with rumination. I really appreciate you for that. ❤️

1. Find out your personal hit rate, don’t just assume, look into your past and get an accurate percentage.

As mentioned, my personal hit rate is low. There's entirely way too many times to go back and reflect. Sometimes I think something and I am right, but often times I think something and what I thought wasn't actually. If I had to say, it's definitely under 10%. 

2. Counter your catastrophic thoughts with counter-positive thoughts based on logic/facts/experience.

"Ohhh man, there goes my feet tingling again, I know a flare up is about to come on." "Owww, my head is pounding. This is definitely something more than my usual migraine." "There's no point in even going to the doctor, because she never does anything anyway." "My body keeps breaking down on me. What did I do to deserve this?" These are just some of my negative catastrophic thoughts I have had regarding physical health. Things I can say to counter these thoughts are: "While this flare up hurts so bad, on the bright side, my body's quick reactions to certain things is actually a good thing. My body is doing what it is supposed to be doing by letting me know something is wrong." "Even though I don't want to go to the doctor today or ever, I am going to go and see what relief there can be for me. Something is better than nothing." "Hurts and pains happen to all of us at one time or another. It's nothing I did wrong. I am not cursed." 

3. After practicing this with at least one thought. Tell us about your experience with this exercise.

@Hope The countering thoughts exercise when I logged on the laptop to do it, actually just makes me think. Sometimes we think we are the only ones in pain or going through the ringer, but there really are people out dealing with worse things. It doesn't take away from mine, but the positive thoughts let me know I do need to be thankful. Things could always be worse.

Again, thanks for the video on rumination and the reminder. :) 

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@Hope

Last year I was 100/100 Catastrophizing over the weather when driving.  It was really snowing bad where I lived and I had to drive 2.5 hours and I thought the roads were going to be as bad as in front of my house.  After getting off my street the rest of the roads had all been cleared.  

Another time it snowed the roads were clear about 3 minutes from my house.  

1 reply
Hope OP 20 hours ago

@CalmWhisper22

Thank you for sharing your experience. I am glad things were not as bad as they seemed. 

A reminder to please complete these tasks if you are working towards the certificate 

📢Points of Action:

  1. Find out your personal hit rate, don’t just assume, look into your past and get an accurate percentage.
  2. Counter your catastrophic thoughts with counter-positive thoughts based on logic/facts/experience.
  3. After practicing this with at least one thought. Tell us about your experience with this exercise.


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I thought I'd get awful marks in grade 10, but I managed to get above 90%.

Now I feel like the 11th grade exams are going to be impossible, especially because the syllabus is huge, but I managed grade 10 with the same thoughts, so it should be alright 

1 reply
Hope OP 20 hours ago

@unassumingEyes

Great to see you here!

I can see how that can be challenging. Studying can feel so hard. Its good that you can reflect back on your 10th grade experience and realize there is hope!

Wow above 90% is incredible!

Reminder to complete the tasks if you are working towards the certificate

📢Points of Action:

  1. Find out your personal hit rate, don’t just assume, look into your past and get an accurate percentage.
  2. Counter your catastrophic thoughts with counter-positive thoughts based on logic/facts/experience.
  3. After practicing this with at least one thought. Tell us about your experience with this exercise.

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