Catastrophize

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As catastrophizing (also Magnifizieren of negatives , of Engl. Magnification ) is a cognitive bias called that is that someone is convinced that first a certain unfortunate incident almost certainly will in fact occur and that this event for the person concerned. 2 will be devastating, with most other people classing the same event as either very unlikely, or painful or uncomfortable, but bearable and surmountable. Frequent and intensive catastrophizing goes hand in hand with feelings of helplessness . Exemplary features of this behavior can be found in the fairy tale of the Brothers Grimm, Die wise Else .

In clinical psychology and in cognitive behavioral therapy , catastrophizing is associated with depression and anxiety disorders , but also with chronic pain . It is counted among the dysfunctional cognitive emotion regulation strategies.

The term was coined in 1962 by the American psychologist Albert Ellis and later adopted by Aaron T. Beck .

Examples

“She's late. It's raining. She must have strayed off the road with the car and was lying in the ditch somewhere. "

"My constant headache can only be due to a brain tumor ."

"If my partner leaves me, I'll never find anyone again and I'll be unhappy all my life."

“If I don't recover quickly from the operation, I'll never get well. I will be disabled all my life. "

“I didn't pass the math test. I'm no good at school and I can just as easily break off my visit. "

Ellis on catastrophizing

Ellis noticed that many patients with depression or anxiety disorder idiosyncratically perceive frustrating life experiences and think of them as devastating, while most others would “just” find the same experiences painful, frustrating, or uncomfortable:

“More specific, he should perceive his own tendency to catastrophize about inevitable unfortunate situations - to tell himself:“ Oh, my Lord! How terrible this situation is; I positively cannot stand it! " - and should question and challenge this catastrophizing, and change his internalized sentences to: “It's too bad that conditions are this frustrating. But they won't kill me; and I surely can stand living in this unfortunate but hardly catastrophic way. ””

"More precisely: he should use his own tendency to catastrophize inevitable unfortunate situations - telling himself," Oh God! How awful this situation is; I definitely can't stand it! ”-, recognize and should question and deny this catastrophizing, and replace its internalized sentences with:“ It is bad that the conditions are so discouraging. But they won't kill me; and I can certainly live in this situation, which is unfortunate but hardly catastrophic. ""

- Albert Ellis : Reason and Emotion in Psychotherapy, p. 71

Individual evidence

  1. ^ What is Catastrophizing. Retrieved July 16, 2020 .
  2. ↑ a b catastrophizing. In: Cod. Lexicon of Psychology. Retrieved July 16, 2020 .
  3. ^ Catastrophizing: What You Need to Know to Stop Worrying. Retrieved July 16, 2020 .
  4. ↑ Michael E. Geisser, Michael E. Robinson, Francis J. Keefe, Marni L. Weiner: Catastrophizing, depression and the sensory, affective and evaluative aspects of chronic pain . In: Pain . tape 59 , no. 1 , October 1994, p. 79-83 , doi : 10.1016 / 0304-3959 (94) 90050-7 .
  5. ^ Albert Ellis: Reason and Emotion in Psychotherapy . Lyle Stuart, New York 1962.
  6. Jump up ↑ Aaron T. Beck, AJ Rush, BF Shaw, G. Emery: Cognitive Therapy of Depression . Guilford Press, New York 1979.
  7. ↑ a b What Are Cognitive Distortions and How Can You Change These Thinking Patterns? Retrieved July 16, 2020 .
  8. ↑ Catastrophizing. In: Psychology magazine. Retrieved July 16, 2020 .
  9. ↑ a b How to stop catastrophizing. Retrieved July 16, 2020 .