Catastrophizing: How to Turn Mountains Back into Molehills

Consider this scenario: Your teenager was supposed to be home at 10:00 p.m. It's now 10:15. Your imagination starts kicking into high gear. It's 10:20. You are now sure that she has been in a car accident. You pick up the phone to call the police when she comes in the door apogizing for being late because she was stuck in traffic. If this is you, then you know firsthand about the cognitive distortion called catastrophizing. Catastrophizing is an irrational way of thinking that is characterized with excessive worry. It causes us to entertain all of the "what if's" as if they were reality and because we often really believe that something will go terribly wrong, we often sabotage our own.....read more