3.4 Triggers of Catastrophizing

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From the course by University of Pennsylvania

Positive Psychology: Resilience Skills

499 ratings

University of Pennsylvania

Positive Psychology: Resilience Skills

499 ratings

Course 4 of 5 in the Specialization Foundations of Positive Psychology

Learn how to incorporate resilience interventions into your personal and professional life with Dr. Karen Reivich. In this course, you are exposed to the foundational research in resilience, including protective factors such as mental agility and optimism. Several types of resilience interventions are explored including cognitive strategies; strategies to manage anxiety and increase positive emotions such as gratitude; and a critical relationship enhancement skill. Throughout the course, you will hear examples of individuals using resilience skills in their personal and professional lives. Suggested prerequisites: Positive Psychology: Martin E. P. Seligman’s Visionary Science, Positive Psychology: Applications and Interventions and Positive Psychology: Character, Grit & Research Methods.

From the lesson

Managing Anxiety and Increasing Positive Emotions Like Gratitude

In this module, you will learn the definition of catastrophic thinking and identify the effects it has on physiology, attention and contingency planning. You will experiment with several non-cognitive strategies to decrease anxiety, including Deliberate Breathing. You will be introduced to the Broaden and Build theory of positive emotions, and will be able to describe the effects of positive emotions on resilience. Finally, you will relate research and examples of gratitude to your own life and develop a plan for a gratitude practice.

3.1 Introduction: Catastrophizing and the Relationship of Anxiety to Resilience6:42

3.2 Dr. Baime: Effects of Anxiety on Our Bodies4:38

3.3 Demonstrations of Several Styles of Catastrophizing9:53

3.4 Triggers of Catastrophizing7:01

3.5 Introduction to three Different Ways to Manage Anxiety12:58

Meet the Instructors

Karen Reivich, Ph.D.
Director of Resilience Training Services
Positive Psychology Center

[MUSIC]

Okay, so we've talked about the three different styles of catasrophizing.

And, I'm hoping you're starting to hear which of these styles is your style,

if you catastrophize.

But I also want to talk a little bit about,

what triggers catastrophic thinking?

I'm somebody who is prone to catastrophize.

So I would catastrophize a lot of the time, and

I was walking through this world with really unhelpful levels of anxiety.

We've also come to believe that,

there are specific triggers of catastrophic thinking.

Now I want to be clear, I'm not pointing to now an empirical literature

that has identified these triggers.

However, in the decades of work we've been doing, teaching these skills with

thousands and thousands of people, we hear these triggers come up over and

over again, when people talk about when they slip into catastrophic thinking.

So let me go through these triggers with you.

So what is ambiguity, right?

If something is unclear, and you don't know how to make sense of it,

that might be a time when your brain slides into catastrophic thinking.

You could interpret it this way or that way, it's unclear.

And your brain pushes you towards the more catastrophic interpretation.

Particularly for someone like me who's prone to catastrophize,

when I come up to an ambiguous situation, I'm going to to fall right into the trap.

So what's an example of that?

Let's say, you receive a text message from your employer saying,

drop by my office, I need to talk.

That's ambiguous, you don't know what your employer wants to talk to you about, and

that ambiguity in that text message might trigger a little catastrophic thinking.

Or let's say, you get a call from your doctor, and

the message simply says, the results are in, give me a call, all right.

There's a lot of missing information in that voicemail, and

that might lead you to catastrophize.

So ambiguity is one trigger.

Another trigger, is if it's something that you value highly,

and it's at stake, so what do I mean by that?

Well, I value highly my husband, my marriage, I value highly guy.

And let's say I expected him home at 6 o'clock, and now it's 6:15,

and 6:30, and 6:45, and I've tried to text him, and

I haven't heard from him, that might trigger catastrophic thinking.

Or, you're applying for a job, and you want this job, you value that job.

You've been called back three times, and you know that tomorrow's the day,

they're going to announce who gets the position.

You value that highly, and so you might catastrophizing as you're waiting for

the news.

Another trigger of catastrophic thinking is, if you already fear the situation.

So some of you might fear flying, and as you're about to board the plane or

even waiting in the security line, you're starting to have catastrophic thoughts.

A very common fear is public speaking.

And so if you have to deliver a presentation, and

you're about to step into the room to deliver that presentation,

you might start to catastrophize.

Some people fear, or don't like making small talk.

And so, if you hate making small talk,

you fear having those kind of interactions with people, and

you're about to go to a cocktail party, that might trigger catastrophic thinking.

So think for yourself about situations that you fear,

because that might lead to more catastrophizing.

Now there's one other trigger of catastrophic thinking, and

that's being run down or depleted.

So, if you're already tired, if you're a little sick,

you're probably more likely to catastrophize,

even if you're not prone to catastrophizing.

And being rundown or depleted coupled with any of those other triggers,

so you're a little run down, and then you get that ambiguous text message.

Or, you're a little run down, and then you have to go in and give that presentation.

That's going to sort of make catastrophic thinking even more likely.

All right, so what I'd like you to do, because as you can predict,

I'm going to have you practice what we're talking about,

I'd like you to start by writing down examples of times that you catastrophized.

And you might do that, by using those triggers I just reviewed.

So somethings ambiguous, it's something that you value highly, and it's at stake.

It's a situation you already fear, and maybe on top of it,

you're a little rundown or depleted.

I want you to try to generate situations that relate to those triggers,

when you might catasrophize.

So take a few minutes and do that.

>> Certainly, I have seen catastrophizing

in a number of colleagues or students.

I think, A more recent example I have,

there was an email that went out about health insurance for

faculty, and I hadn't even seen the email yet.

I was meeting a colleague for lunch, and as he approached,

he basically was saying, have you heard that we're losing our healthcare benefits?

And, no, I hadn't heard that, that was happening.

Can you tell me more about that?

So he showed me the email, which basically said that there was a meeting

to discuss the benefits of healthcare.

Had said nothing about that we were losing it, but

that's where his mind had spiralled to.

Why would we be having a meeting in January about healthcare benefits

that kicked in, in September?

It must only be something bad.

It must only reflect something gone wrong.

And as it turned out, he couldn't have been more wrong.

Our benefits were getting better.

I don't have a co-pay when I go to see a physician now,

it's just kind of thing, that's just one example.

Certainly, we can find many more.

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