Cognitive Distortions: What Is Catastrophizing?

What are cognitive distortions?

Cognitive distortions are biased or irrational ways of thinking that can negatively affect how you interpret situations, yourself, and others. They often reinforce negative emotions and unhelpful behaviors.

Examples include: 

• All-or-nothing thinking – Seeing things as entirely good or bad, with no middle ground.
• Overgeneralization – Applying one negative event to all similar situations.
• Disqualifying the positive – Dismissing good experiences as unimportant or luck.
• Mind Reading – Assuming you know what others think or predicting a bad outcome without evidence.
• Catastrophizing – Expecting the worst-case scenario to happen.
• Emotional reasoning – Believing something is true because it “feels” true.
• Should statements – Rigidly thinking in terms of what you or others “should” do.
• Labeling – Assigning yourself or others a fixed, negative label.
• Personalization – Blaming yourself for events outside your control or taking things too personally.

This is not a complete list. There are many cognitive distortions not listed here. 

What Is Catastrophic Thinking?

Catastrophizing is a common cognitive distortion. It is when you believe that the worst possible outcome of a situation will happen, even if you don’t have evidence for that. Examples of over-catastrophizing include:

• Getting a headache and assuming it must be a brain tumor.
• Sending an email with a small typo and believing your boss will think you’re incompetent and fire you.
• Forgetting to pay one bill on time and imagining your credit will be permanently ruined.
• Getting constructive feedback and thinking you’ll never succeed in your career.
• Making one mistake during a presentation and believing everyone will think you’re stupid.
• Feeling slightly unwell and assuming you’re developing a life-threatening illness.
• Not doing well on an exam and thinking that you’ll never get into college.
• Forgetting your friend’s birthday and believing they’ll never speak to you again. 
• Doing something for the first time and believing it’ll go horribly. 
• Every time you get in the car, you’re convinced you’ll have a car accident. 

Catastrophizing doesn’t have to start with something bad. Sometimes we can catastrophize without any trigger, like being convinced every car ride will end in an accident. 

Catastrophizing also doesn’t have to be unrealistic. Yes, it’s true that you could get into an accident when you drive. However, there are safety measures you can take to minimize that.

Finally, catastrophizing doesn’t mean that the alternative is nothing bad will happen. For example, forgetting your friend’s birthday will probably make your friend feel mad, sad, or unloved by you. They might be cold towards you or ask to talk to you about it. This might lead to a confrontation. These are all outcomes that may be undesirable to you. However, they are not unsurvivable or catastrophic. 

Catastrophic thinking is believing that the worst thing that can happen will happen. The reality is somewhere in between this and toxic positivity thinking: It’s true that bad things happen. But it’s equally as true that the bad things will be manageable and that you can handle them.

What Is Catastrophizing a Symptom of?

Cognitive distortions are often a symptom of a serious mental health issue. Catastrophizing is an example of: 

• Anxiety
• Depression 
• OCD
• ADHD
• Prolonged Grief Disorder
• PTSD
• Chronic Pain
• Chronic Stress

This list is not complete. Also, catastrophizing could occur without being linked to a mental health disorder. In times of distress, your brain might turn to this cognitive distortion as a way to feel prepared for the world case situation. 

How to Stop Over-Catastrophizing

We get it. It’s frustrating to be caught in a loop of over-catastrophizing. Usually, you know that your thoughts aren’t realistic. Still, the catastrophizing seems rational to you! Other times, you don’t know and are caught off guard by the sudden swell of anxiety. 

Either way, the first step is to recognize that you are catastrophizing. Stop and name the thought for what it is: a cognitive distortion. Try to define the limits of the thought. For example, “If I’m late, I’ll be fired” might only be part of the catastrophizing. The full thought might look like: “I believe that if I’m late, I’ll be fired, and then go into credit debt, which will ding my credit score, and I’ll never buy a house.”

Knowing the entirety of the thought will help you cope with it. Here’s how to cope with catastrophizing: 

• Identify the thought: Call it out and label it for what it is in your mind. 
• Acknowledge that bad things might happen: Pretending like nothing bad will ever happen is not a good coping strategy either. The truth is that bad things might happen, but the worst thing probably won’t happen, and you can take steps to prevent things from worsening. 
• Stop the thoughts: We can’t control our emotions, but we can control our thoughts, to some extent. It might take verbally telling yourself “Stop!” or distracting yourself by thinking about something else. Some people find rationalizing the thoughts helpful by walking themselves through why what they think is irrational. Other people find arguing with their thoughts like this to be fruitless. Do what works best for you. 
• Focus on what you can control: A basis of catastrophizing is that everything is out of your control, but this isn’t true. For example, you might be late, and the worst-case scenario is that your boss fires you. But you are not automatically doomed to a life of credit debt and job hunts. Humans are adaptable, and you can adapt to the situation at hand. 
• Practice positive affirmations: These can be about yourself, your ability to do hard things, or the situation at hand. For example, if you struggle with social anxiety and believe that people will think you’re stupid you if you mess up a presentation, you could tell yourself a neutral statement: “Most of my coworkers don’t think that deeply of me. They’re just trying to get through the work day just like I am.” or a positive one: “I’m going to do great. I worked hard on this project and I know what I’m doing.”  
• Talk to a therapist: If you still struggle with catastrophization, talking to a therapist can help. A licensed therapist will help you get to the root of the issue and come up with coping strategies that work for you. 

If you’re ready to talk to a therapist about catastrophic thinking or any other cognitive distortion, Lifebulb Counseling is here to help. We have open availability and therapists near you. We also accept most major insurances. Contact our team or browse our list of therapists to get started today. 

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