In a previous section, you learned about the “negativity effect,” where one magnifies negative experiences and minimises positive experiences. We learnt how it could unnecessarily lower one’s mood.
On this page, I will explain another common type of negative thought, which psychologists call “catastrophic thoughts.” As I will explain, these are associated with the person imagining only the worst possible outcomes.
In daily life, one’s mind constantly imagines the future. When I refer to “future”, I do not only mean years ahead. It could well be much shorter times in the future, such as hours and days. Imagining what may happen in the future is vital for survival. It helps individuals make informed decisions in the present that will lead to a better future.
For example, suppose one is considering going to a nature park for a long walk. Immediately, one’s mind will try to imagine various future scenarios. One might imagine that the park’s soil could be muddy, making one wear sturdy shoes. Or perhaps one might imagine that, because the walk will be long, one will be thirstier and hungrier, leading one to bring extra water and sandwiches. In this way, imagining the future helps one make informed decisions in the present. It is a crucial part of one’s daily life.
When “imagining” correctly, one’s mind should imagine a range of potential “futures”, from good to bad. I.e. various futures, some with non-challenging situations and some with challenging situations. That way, one can be ready to deal with a wide variety of situations in the future.
Unfortunately, this imagination system can sometimes go wrong and become negative. Some people imagine only the worst possible outcomes, i.e., that everything in the future will be a “disaster” or “catastrophe.” They do not think of any future scenarios that might be less bad. These are what psychologists call “catastrophic thoughts”.
The example below will help you better understand catastrophic thoughts.
When Susan arrived at work in the morning, her boss said, “I want to have an important meeting with you at the end of the day.” With only this information, Susan imagined only the worst outcome: that her boss would meet her to tell her she would lose her job. She did not imagine any other less negative reason for her boss to want to meet her. She spent the whole day wracked with anxiety, worrying about the impending meeting.
However, when she met her boss later, she learned that the boss was very happy with her progress in the company and wanted to offer her a promotion! In this example, her catastrophic thoughts unnecessarily ruined Susan’s whole day.
With catastrophic thoughts, the person may add further layers of imaginary “worst outcome” scenarios. For example, with Susan, she may add further scenarios to her original imagined scenario of losing her job, such as, “With the loss of my job, I would become extremely depressed, and because of this, my partner may leave me. I will not be able to afford the rent and end up being homeless, sleeping on the street”. With such a catastrophic imagination, Susan would experience immense stress, which was unnecessary, since the outcome was unknown before she met her boss.
As you have seen, catastrophic thoughts can cause unnecessary distress. Later on this website, I will share other common negative thought patterns with you and ways to overcome them.