Posted by sunny10 on May 20, 2005, at 12:06:58
In reply to Re: How to stop constant fear, worry and rumination? » pinkeye, posted by Jazzed on May 20, 2005, at 6:08:38
I'm telling you that my T calls what I do catastrophizing when I make mountains out of molehills...It's when you take a little bit of "knowledge" and go to the "what if" extremes- sometimes leading to thoughts of physical harm to me or my loved ones or even death.
For instance, my son was diagnosed with ADHD when he was about 4. He was put on Ritalin. After doing a little reading on the subject, I became convinced that his life was ruined, that he'd never have a normal life. That he'd never succeed in school. That his peers would hate him. That if I missed a single dose of his medication, he would be so impulsive that when he ran towards the street next time, I wouldn't be able to stop him in time and it would be my fault that he got out into the middle of the street and was killed.
THAT's catastrophizing...If your actual problems are much bigger than mine, you may not be catastrophizing...you may just be anxious over problems that anyone would be anxious over...I don't know that.
You stated what type of thinking you were doing, but not exactly to the extent you do it...
The "type of thinking" is called catastrophizing, but that doesn't necessarily mean you are a catastrophizer....
I happen to do it to the extreme... Thus the dx of Generalized Anxiety Disorder...
poster:sunny10
thread:499933
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20050513/msgs/500344.html