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Tess,
You've gotten some great advice from your fellow member. You can also try removing the perceived threat from your thoughts.
Ex: You start picturing your family in a car accident, recognize the catastrophizing and replace your family with something non-threatning like a cartoon character in the car getting into an accident and focus on that positive visualization until the thought dissipates.
Hope this helps.
Danielle
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The PC Support Team
Hi Maggie, thanks for your reply. I have to work on the "practice makes perfect" issue. I do try to stop myself from catastrophizing,I just find it very hard to do so. My conscious mind knows full well my thoughts are irrational, my unconscious mind is my enemy, the one I have to beat. I'll keep on practising...
Hi Tess,
Considering that catastrophizing is a type of automatic negative thinking, I believe the following would still apply:
First and foremost,try and be aware: What is going through my mind? Then proceed to asking yourself, "Is this thought helping me?". Chances are it is not. There are a series of questions you can ask yourself that can help you challenge these anxious thoughts. Also, I think rationalization is key to challenging a lot of these types of thoughts. Look for evidence, for example: "Whats the evidence for and against my thought"? or "Am I jumping to conclusions without looking at all the facts"? Consider searching for alternative explanations. "Are there any other possible explanations?" or "Am I being too inflexible in my thinking?". Then begin to put thoughts into perspective: "How likely is it that the worst will happen?" etc. Then ask yourself what would be a more helpful thought to be thinking instead...Hope this helps you a bit. And remember, practise makes perfect.:)
Hi Maggie and everybody: Ive had quite a bit of trouble challenging anxious thoughts, and Im not sure i can do so well yet. I am prone to catastrophizing over things, if I see an accident on TV I immediately get a picture of my family or I being in one, that sort of thing. What can I do to stop that kind of thought coming to my mind, how do I challenge them fully? Is anybody else here prone to catastrophizing? I'd appreciate any feedback you can give me.
Hi Maggie,
Thanks for posting your concern here.
Feelings like this can occur at any time, and come out of the blue. It might happen when you are dong something ordinary like driving a car, shopping, or going to work. Suddenly, you are overwhelmed by frightening and uncomfortable feelings. They usually take a person completely by surprise. One reason they're so devastating is that you can€™t really predict when this will happen.
You can challenge them in the same way that you would with other thoughts. You gave an excellent example of a method to do this in your post of not giving in to the anxious thoughts. You can also utilize the online program to address these recent concerns.
Fellow members will be by soon to share what works for them.
Keep us posted as to how you are doing.
Casey
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The Panic Center Support Team
I was wondering... What do I do when I just have a feeling of doom or total dread come over me out of no where? I understand ANTs more now, but there is no such thing as ANEs (E=emotions). Maybe I just feel certain scary emotions because they are part of me now as a result of my ANTs? I know I can try and change my reaction to these emotions now. For example, instead of completely breaking down and panicking I can just try and move past the feelings and not empower anxious thoughts about it (just ride the anxiety out). But is it normal to have certain feelings come over you even if you aren't thinking any anxious thoughts at the fore front of your mind? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. :confuse:
Members,
You need to challenge your thoughts and work through them. By using the program and the support group you can progress further and succeed. Use the tools and challenge your anxiety, know that we are always here to assist :)
Keep Strong,
Josie
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The Panic Center Support Team.
Hi Pheonix. I also have the same problem. My thoughts just drive me crazy. I keep thinking negative and i somehow cannot control it. But i think what we need to do is challenge our anxious thoughts. We need to get better at that. Once we learn how to challenge them, the thoughts will be less and less important to us. Then i believe eventually we will be so sick of it that it will go away.......because our fear will reduce if we succeed at challenging them!
I hope i can do this soon. I hate thinking period now lol
bye for now!
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