Are you catastrophizing?

Here’s how to stop

assuming the worst.
Nine experts weigh in on curbing and
diffusing your overly negative
thoughts.
Allie Volpe • Feb 3, 2024, 7:00am EST

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If you’re a person who spends even a

minuscule amount of time consuming news
of any kind, you may find yourself in a doom
spiral: ongoing war, the upcoming
presidential election, climate change, the
withering of the media. It isn’t just news that
can inspire despair. Life is full of anxiety-
inducing interactions, high-stakes
scenarios, and unavoidable conflicts that
can lead to overthinking, hopelessness, and
catastrophic thinking.

Catastrophizing is a common thought

pattern where you assume the worst
possible scenario. If you fail a test, you
might believe you’ll never get a job in the
future. When the group chat is silent after
you initiate plans, you jump to conclusions
and take it to mean everyone hates you.
Your boss says she wants to talk and you
assume you’re getting fired. Catastrophic
thinking escalates the most benign
interactions into crises. Very often, though,
these predictions do not come to fruition.

People catastrophize in order to prepare for

these worst-case scenarios. Catastrophic
thinking, however, can lead to heightened
anxiety, prolonged feelings of physical pain,
risk aversion, and less confidence in
problem-solving when big issues do arise.
“If you find that you are constantly looking
for what could go drastically wrong in your
life, this could reflect deeper concerns
about safety, security, or self-protection,”
says Scott Glassman, director of the master
of applied positive psychology program at
Philadelphia College of Osteopathic
Medicine. “This style of thinking can emerge
if you’ve experienced an unexpected
traumatic event, like a loss or serious injury,
or if you grew up in an environment where
fears were often amplified and responded to
with panic or overprotection.”

Climbing out of the spiral that is

catastrophic thinking requires both in-the-
moment grounding techniques and big-
picture reframing. Focusing on the reality of
a situation — and not the story you’re telling
yourself — can help blunt the anxiety of
catastrophizing, experts say. Here are more
therapist-approved tactics to help you avoid
catastrophic thinking.

Responses have been edited and

condensed for clarity.

Catch yourself in the act

“Instead of viewing the [catastrophic]

thought as a prediction of the future, you
can simply say, ‘This is a catastrophic
thought. I’ve had these thoughts before and
things have turned out fine.’ Remind yourself
of the times that you’ve engaged in
catastrophic thinking and survived it. You
will survive this one, too.”

—Alyssa Mancao, licensed therapist and

owner of Alyssa Marie Wellness

Ask yourself pointed questions

“One of my favorite tips for catastrophizing

is asking clients, ‘What is the worst thing
that could possibly happen?’ and following it
up with the powerful question of, ‘Could I
survive that?’ Most of the time, we can
survive those worst-case scenarios, but our
anxiety gets in the way and makes us
believe we can’t get through it. When we
can slow ourselves down to examine the
evidence, I find that we are often in a better
place to reason with ourselves and realize
that we can get through hard things.”

—Samantha Speed, licensed professional

counselor

Follow the negative thoughts to see

where they lead

“In the midst of catastrophic thinking, there

are two options. One is to create a positive
thought (change ‘no one likes me’ to ‘some
people like me’) and repeat it. The other is
to follow the negative thinking train to the
end and see where the illogical thinking
takes you. For example, thinking that no one
likes me leads to ‘I will die alone,’ which
leads to ‘I need to buy a dog because it will
bark when I stop responding and the
barking will annoy the neighbors and they
will call 911.’ When one begins to plan for
these negative events, the reality is that
these worries are possibilities, not
probabilities.”

—Diane Urban, licensed psychologist and

adjunct professor at Manhattan College and
Southern New Hampshire University

Remind yourself that you are not

your thoughts

“Clients who struggle with catastrophizing

tend to internalize their thought processes.
For example, they may say things like, ‘I am
a horrible person,’ ‘Nothing will ever work
out for me,’ ‘I am a failure.’ By using these ‘I’
statements, we are allowing our anxious
thoughts to become our personality and
who we are. One subtle yet effective
strategy is creating separation from your
thoughts. ‘I am a horrible person’ changes
to ‘I am having the thought that I am a
horrible person,’ ‘I am a failure’ changes to
‘My brain is telling me that I am a failure.’
This helps to externalize our thoughts so
that they do not feel as consuming.”

—Courtney Morgan, licensed professional

clinical counselor and founder of Counseling
Unconditionally

Practice grounding techniques

“One approach that has proven particularly

beneficial is grounding techniques. These
are simple exercises to help bring your focus
back to the present moment when your
thoughts start spiraling. For instance, you
might engage your senses by naming five
things you can see, four you can touch,
three you can hear, two you can smell, and
one you can taste. This technique can
interrupt the cycle of negative thinking and
bring you back to reality.”

—Elvis Rosales, licensed clinical social

worker and the clinical director at Align
Recovery Centers

Pay attention when things go well

“We understandably pay more attention to

bad things happening in our lives because,
let’s face it, they are upsetting.
Catastrophizers, however, have a habit of
devoting large amounts of time, attention,
and energy to thinking about the worst-case
what-ifs, in addition to any bad things that
might be happening each day. To neutralize
or reverse this tendency, we often need to
start taking notice of when things turn out
okay or go well. Keeping a daily list can be a
reminder of the real rates of good versus
upsetting events.

“At the same time, we want to make notes

about when our catastrophic predictions
don’t come true. The more we see the errors
of our predictions, the more likely we will
treat them with doubt when they arise. We’ll
start to quickly notice when our mind is
crying wolf and be better able to stop the
ruminative cycle before it has revved up. A
core belief that can drive catastrophic
thinking is, ‘I can’t handle this.’ It’s important
to explore that underlying belief and
challenge it with contradictory evidence.
Keeping a record of big problems you’ve
been able to solve could help weaken that
belief.”

—Scott Glassman, director of the master of

applied positive psychology program at
Philadelphia College of Osteopathic
Medicine

Accept bad things when they

happen

“This may sound strange, but I talk with

patients about the idea of getting better at
suffering. It always elicits a joke: ‘Oh, I’m
already great at that.’ But there’s a
difference between obsessing about bad
things versus accepting them.
Catastrophizing seems like an effort
[toward] acceptance but it’s actually a
strategy for avoidance. The work here is to
move toward the very real sadness and
stress of uncertainty rather than trying to
bargain with it. The world comes with
uncertainty, bad things happen, someday
we’ll die.”

—Matt Lundquist, founder and clinical

director of Tribeca Therapy

Try to problem-solve instead of

searching for problems

“If you are engaged in catastrophic thinking,

you may have thought about how daunting
the situation is and ways you are unable to
fix it. Problem-solving may be helpful. Try
breaking down the situation into more
manageable parts instead of focusing on
options that are overwhelming and
frustrating.

“For example, if you have the belief that you

have no friends, you would first identify the
problem. The second step would be to
check the facts by finding evidence that
supports these thoughts to determine if you
are indeed assuming the worst without
reason. The third step would be to establish
your goal. If your goal is to make friends,
engage in more social interaction, or find a
sense of community or belonging, then you
would establish that goal and brainstorm
possible solutions to achieve that goal by
breaking down your goal into actionable
steps. You would then select your solution
and, if necessary, it would be helpful to
develop a pros and cons list to help put that
thought into action. Most of all, have self-
compassion and give yourself grace
because breaking negative thought patterns
can be very challenging.”

—Peta-Gaye Sandiford, licensed mental

health counselor at Empower Your Mind
Therapy

Focus on what you can control

“The minute your train of thought starts to

get off the rails, force yourself to think that
you are not the master. You do not have
control over the future. But you do have the
power to either fight it or accept it. So think
about all the positive ways you will deal with
that catastrophic event.”

—Jessica Plonchak, executive clinical

director at ChoicePoint Health

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