How to stop catastrophizing and cut back on negative thinking

Irrational thoughts can make you feel helpless and anxious. They can be especially detrimental when they lead to ruminating about worst-case scenarios. In other words, “catastrophizing.” To improve your mental health, it’s important to recognize unhelpful thought patterns before they get out of control. 

So how do you control these thoughts? The key is to identify when illogical thoughts lead to catastrophizing. Then, you can stop yourself from spiraling. Once you start using tools to address your triggers, you’ll be on your way to creating a new reality. 

Remember, it’s within your power to reframe your thoughts and stop catastrophizing. You have the ability to cultivate optimism and live a better life.

If you struggle with catastrophic thinking, you likely tend to let your worries run wild. It’s normal to have realistic worries about the future. But excessive anxiety caused by catastrophic thoughts is a form of cognitive distortion. Cognitive distortions are unhealthy thought patterns that fuel anxiety and worsen emotional distress.

A single catastrophic thought can have a snowball effect. For example, let’s say your car is making a strange noise. Instead of simply making a mental note to get it checked, you might find yourself jumping to the worst conclusion that your car is broken beyond repair. 

You may then start thinking about how you can’t afford a new car and worry you won’t have a ride to work. Soon, fear of losing your job and being unable to afford rent creeps in. 

The following are more examples of catastrophic thoughts:

• Thinking you are a total failure if you mess up at work
• Assuming your relationship is over because of a small disagreement
• Expecting the worst possible outcome when experiencing symptoms of a health issue
• Thinking everyone at a party was judging you
• Concluding you’re not important in someone’s life because they didn’t respond to your message
• Experiencing extreme feelings of hopelessness if your job search isn’t going well 
• Worrying you’ll get booed at a public speaking event
• Assuming you are going to fail your upcoming job interview

Catastrophizing is majorly exaggerating small or potential problems. It can lead to ruminating thoughts and feelings of helplessness. But with effort, you can stop worrying and cultivate a positive mental attitude. 

Why catastrophizing happens

People catastrophize for several reasons, including mental health conditions and physical brain differences. You don’t need to be diagnosed with a mental health disorder to experience catastrophizing thoughts. However, catastrophic thinking is very common in mental health disorders. 

Catastrophic thinking can be correlated with depression and anxiety disorders. These are associated with negative thoughts. So if you have depression or anxiety, you may develop a warped view of things. With depression, you might find it difficult to see hope or positive possibilities, even when there may be plenty of good in your life. 

On the flip side, unmanaged catastrophizing can also lead you to develop depression and anxiety. Constant negative thoughts might progress into mental health conditions. In this sense, depression and anxiety are doubly linked to catastrophic thinking. 

Other conditions like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can also lead to catastrophizing. The brain may catastrophize after experiencing trauma in childhood or other stressful events. This is an attempt to gain control by preparing for the worst possible outcome. But catastrophizing will only work against that need for control, putting your body in a dysregulated state of fight or flight.

The physical composition of your brain may also play a role in catastrophic thinking. The way in which parts of the brain are separated, known as brain system segregation, may lead to catastrophizing tendencies. The development of different areas of the brain can impact emotional regulation skills. These skills are key to preventing negative thought patterns. 

The impact of catastrophizing

It’s no surprise that if left unchecked, catastrophic thinking can severely impact your life. The toxic thinking pattern can take a toll on your mental health and hold you back from success and healthy relationships.

Increased stress and anxiety

Thinking about the worst thing that could happen isn’t good for your mentality. It leads to increased anxiety and various types of stress, which can disrupt your sense of inner peace. 

It’s important to manage your stress and anxiety symptoms, as stress can impact body function. It’s considered a risk factor for inflammation and coronary heart disease. This is because stress can increase your heart rate variance. Techniques to calm anxiety can be helpful when you experience catastrophic thoughts. 

Hindered decision-making

Thinking about the consequences of your decisions is smart. But catastrophizing involves ruminating on excessively negative potential outcomes. When catastrophic thinking is a regular part of your life, it can become a habit to stress about decisions. 

Catastrophizing can be so anxiety-inducing that it can cause procrastination. As a result, you may experience decision fatigue and need to work on your decision-making skills.

Damaged and strained relationships

Relationships are built on trust. However, it can be hard to maintain a healthy relationship if you experience constant fear and anxious thoughts. If you regularly catastrophize and think people will disown you for minor mistakes, it can strain your relationships.

The constant negativity that comes with catastrophizing can also be hard for others to cope with. Learning to stop fear from ruling your interpersonal relationships may improve those connections. 

Missed opportunities and difficulty achieving goals

Catastrophizing can hold you back from achieving your goals. How can you dream big if you worry about failing before you even try? By catastrophizing, you’re saying no to potential positive outcomes. 

Missing out on opportunities affects your professional life as well as experiences like making friends. Getting close to a new person is hard if you’re imagining the worst possible outcome. Don’t let your mind talk you out of allowing good things to happen. 

Identifying catastrophic thinking patterns

Illogical thought patterns are easier to break when you realize they’re happening. Addressing catastrophizing and related thinking patterns empowers you to take a step back. You can then examine your thoughts from a more objective perspective.

Recognizing all-or-nothing thinking

All-or-nothing thinking is the act of thinking in polarized extremes. You’re either the best at something or the worst, a saint or a terrible person. You have incredible talent or nothing to offer the world. 

Catastrophizing and all-or-nothing thinking often go hand in hand. The negative scenario in both is typically extreme. You can identify all-or-nothing thinking by taking a step back and looking for more neutral alternatives. 

Spotlighting mental filtering and fortune-telling

Catastrophizing can be related to cognitive distortions like fortune-telling and mental filtering. Fortune-telling is when you assume a negative outcome without considering the odds of it happening. Meanwhile, mental filtering is a phenomenon where you focus only on the negative. In essence, you’re filtering out the positive.

Developing a more positive mindset will help reduce these tendencies. Try asking yourself if you’re focusing on negativity or making assumptions about the future you couldn’t possibly predict. 

Examining emotional reasoning and overgeneralization

Thoughts fueled by anxiety may not be rational. To properly and logically assess situations, you need to work on your analytical skills. Remind yourself that emotions are powerful and can cloud judgment. 

You may also want to take a moment to question whether your concerns are reasonable. Are you exaggerating or overgeneralizing? Try using logic to approach the situation instead. 

Strategies to manage catastrophizing and negative thinking

With proper techniques, it’s possible to reduce or stop catastrophic thinking. Use trial and error to determine which strategies work best for you. 

Challenge negative thoughts with evidence

You might be able to overcome negative thinking using conflicting evidence. For example, does an unanswered phone call really mean your friend doesn’t care about you? Instead, consider how often they’re there for you. It’s a better way to rationalize your illogical negative thoughts. 

Practices like these can make illogical thoughts appear as just that: illogical. And thinking objectively will put things into perspective. 

Develop a more balanced perspective

Sure, bad things happen. But it can be helpful to remind yourself that the worst-case scenario you’ve envisioned has a small likelihood of actually occurring. Think of alternate scenarios and change your perspective to be more balanced. This will help you stop catastrophic thoughts from getting out of control. 

Try cognitive reframing

Cognitive reframing is a technique that focuses on changing how you view situations and feelings. It’s based on the notion that your thoughts about experiences and emotions shape your reality. For instance, if you think you’ll ace an internal interview, your confidence may be your winning factor. 

To try cognitive reframing, you must first believe changing your mindset is possible. It may help to start journaling about unhelpful thoughts and write down more helpful alternatives. A journal is also a good way to track mental progress.  

Focus on what you can control

There are parts of the future you won’t be able to control. Learning how to let go of control is an effective way to stop overthinking. 

Let’s say you’re afraid you did poorly in a job interview. While you likely can’t redo it, you can make your resume stand out and brush up on potential interview questions for next time. You can also finish up with a thank you letter.

Focusing on doing a better job in the future will be more productive than letting anxiety about a bad experience ruin your day. 

Practice mindfulness and meditation

Mindfulness encourages you to ground yourself and live in the present. Many mindfulness and meditation practices can be done anywhere. Try engaging in mindful breathing exercises, yoga, or enjoying quiet time in nature. Mindfulness-based stress reduction may even slow down racing or anxious thoughts as much as medication. The CGI-S score of participants who did meditation improved by a mean of 1.35 points in comparison to 1.43 by medication. 

Prioritize self-compassion and positive self-talk

Being kind and patient with yourself is a form of self-care. Self-care means doing what is best for your physical and mental well-being. 

To build confidence and maintain a hopeful outlook on life, prioritize reducing negative self-talk. A study by Scientific Reports concluded self-talk can even enhance cognitive performance. Practicing positive self-talk is a way to replace limiting beliefs about yourself. Try speaking to yourself the way you speak to a friend. 

Invest in therapy sessions

If managing catastrophizing on your own is proving difficult, talk therapy may be a good option. Therapy provides a judgment-free space to share and process your feelings.   

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a type of therapy focused on changing automatic thoughts. CBT encourages you to examine negative thoughts. In turn, you can replace them with healthy, intentional ones.

Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) can also be a helpful form of talk therapy. Bad things do happen, and ACT can help you develop coping strategies to build resilience toward these events. Acceptance and commitment therapy can treat mental health issues that often involve catastrophizing. 

If necessary, psychiatrists can also prescribe medication to boost emotion regulation and combat negative thoughts. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are a common anti-anxiety medication option for managing catastrophizing. 

Build a support system

Social isolation tends to worsen anxiety and depression. To combat catastrophizing, try spending time with family and friends with whom you can share your struggles. Opening up to others can make you feel less alone.  

Your support system could also include a therapist or life coach. A life coach can equip you with strategies to overcome catastrophic thinking and develop a more positive outlook. 

Living a life without catastrophizing

Even if you’re prone to catastrophizing, you don’t have to struggle and remain stuck in a state of self-pity. Simply recognizing how catastrophic thoughts can make you feel hopeless or helpless can help you forge a path of growth.

With a solid self-awareness regarding your triggers, you can reduce catastrophizing and increase mental peace. Get started with coaching sessions today and dismiss catastrophizing thoughts for a better tomorrow.