Catastrophic Thoughts Or Fear Of Living

People surrounded by catastrophic thoughts tend to see dire consequences in all events. If their tummy hurts, they are afraid to go to the doctor because they suspect that it may be a malignant tumor. If they light a bonfire, the image of a third degree burn appears on their head, due to some carelessness. When they get on a plane, images of themselves holding the life preserver flash through their minds.

By nature, we tend to react with a certain amount of fear or apprehension to the new or the uncertain. However, for some people that small accumulation of fear becomes a catastrophizing without limit, which besieges them and makes their existence a true hell.

People with catastrophic thoughts are full of bad feelings. The thread of his reasoning, in general, is built from the premise “What if …” That is why questions such as “What if I take the bus and it crashes?” and everyone makes fun of me? ”… What if when crossing the avenue I don’t realize that a car is coming at full speed?”… They always imagine the worst of all possibilities in every situation.

The nature of catastrophic thoughts

The catastrophic thoughts are not an independent problem. In general, they are associated with much deeper states of anxiety and / or depression. Whoever finds himself with a high degree of anxiety, for example, in the face of an increase in the rhythm of his heartbeat, believes that he will have a heart attack. Those who suffer from depression visualize themselves in a situation of abandonment or rejection, living under a bridge, begging in a street or dying alone in a charity hospital.

The truth is that we all have catastrophic thoughts sometimes. However, what makes them an important symptom is the regularity of such reasoning and their stubborn character. Sure we can go to the zoo and be attacked by a lion, but the chances of this happening are slim. We can also be run over, but there are many more millions of people who do not suffer this type of accident than those who do.

Where you focus, it expands

The point is that, for those who have catastrophic thoughts, that tiny probability is oversized. This is due to the fact that there is a distortion in thinking that consists in not taking into account the objective data of the probability of occurrence, but the subjective data of the reiteration of the danger in the mind itself.

In this way, the idea of ​​these absurd risks is repeated so much that the affected person ends up acquiring the feeling that their occurrence is highly probable. This overestimation of probability is influenced by other factors apart from our own predisposition, such as the environment or the media.

In the human brain, a recurring thought influences even the way in which our neurons connect. The more something is thought about, the more it comes to mind. This is what happens in the case of catastrophic thoughts: because they are repeated so much, they are fixed. And since they are fixed, they are constantly repeated, despite the fact that they are an obvious self-deception.

Disasters and the fear of living

Almost all human beings go through at least one situation that we experience as catastrophic. Sooner or later we will be confronted with the death of a loved one, with some difficult health event to handle or simply with the uncertainty of not knowing what to do after some drastic change. However, if these situations were a constant, we would not bear it.

What those who are besieged by catastrophic thoughts do not understand is that all these situations are susceptible to being addressed and overcome. What they fear deep down is being left in a situation of extreme vulnerability.  Situations that they cannot react to, or that literally leave them paralyzed and unable to do something. In the end, this means ignoring a fact: we have the resources so that in every situation, no matter how difficult, we can offer an answer.

What is behind people with catastrophic thoughts is surely a difficult childhood. They learned, since they were children, that the environment is hostile and that dangers lurk. Surely when they were little they did not understand very well where the next risk was going to come from and this caused them to build an exaggerated defensive thinking mechanism inside them.

What is advisable to deal with these types of thoughts is to pause to evaluate them, to pass a “reality filter”. In addition, it will be good for us to think about the possible responses that can be given to these dangers, starting with prevention.

A little help…

Finally, we want to give you some tips to detect these types of thoughts. According to Beck and others (1983), these catastrophic negative thoughts would be characterized by the following : 1) They enter your consciousness involuntarily, 2) They lead to deep pessimism, 3) They are counterproductive. That is, thinking like this only worsens the problem and 5) Generally, they represent a distortion of situations.

In conclusion, if you realize that your thoughts have these characteristics, you should try to find an alternative. Be flexible, look for other options, take action. However, we know that it is not easy. Therefore, if you feel overwhelmed by them, it would be best to put yourself in the hands of a cognitive-behavioral psychologist.