“You are making a mountain out of a molehill.” Has anyone ever told you that?
Catastrophinzing is a word that therapists use to describe the tendency for a person to a small concern and have it snowball into larger concerns with more extreme consequences. Here is an example;
· “I’m five minutes late to work. This is awful.”
· “I bet this makes my boss thinks that I am completely irresponsible”
· “This will make her think that I can’t be trusted with important projects”
· “If she can’t trust me she is going to fire me.”
· “If she fires me how will I afford the mortgage. This is awful.”
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) is extremely helpful in assisting individuals reduce anxiety by making a problem seem manageable.
One technique that CBT therapists use is having clients write down catastrophizing thoughts and possible positive, negative and neutral outcomes. Dr. David Burns, describes this strategy in his book, “Feel Good: The New Mood Therapy.”cog