Catastrophising and excessive worrying

[pinkpanther84]

Hello, for a while now I have been suffering from bad anxiety and excessive worrying, and catastrophise constantly about things that have happened. For example I was feeling ok today and then driving home I went at a roundabout when I shouldn't and narrowly avoided an accident, and I keep thinking about it and worrying. Does anyone have any tips to stop catastrophising and obsessively thinking about worries? I started on citalopram 10mg about 10 days ago but I'm really struggling still. Thanks

Hey, hugs. The first thing to bear in mind is that it take a while for the medication to start working, so hang on in there.

I think the fact that you can see that you are catastrophising is really good - for me at least, learning to see that I was doing it was a major challenge. I found writing it down was quite helpful. As in - what happened, what did I think, what did I feel, is my prediction of what could have happened realistic, what other outcomes could there have been, what would I say to someone who asked me how to help with this worry. That sort of thing. If you google catastrophising worksheets there are probably even templates out there of what questions to ask yourself. Best wishes

Hi Jam, thanks so much for the reply it means a lot. I know I catastrophise and yet when I'm in the process of doing it I can't stop myself, and even though my worries seem unrealistic I still decide (at the time) that these bad things I'm imagining are definitely going to happen. And yet if someone else was in the same situation I would tell them they're worrying too much and the things they're worrying about are so unlikely to happen! The worksheets sound a good idea, will take a look

Hey, no worries - been there, done that! I hope the worksheets are useful

OP. I wish I had the answer but I feel the same. Last week something happened that, if DS hadn’t spotted it, could have been catastrophic. And I’m here thinking “What if?”

But it didn’t happen. And we’re still here. Just know that an over-inflated sense of danger is the reason we’re all still here. So what you’re feeling is natural.

Mega hugs op.
I went meditation classes which really helped with unwanted thoughts and feelings. I have the headspace app and it’s good, but something about going down to the Buddhist centres and taking classes was really productive.

Thanks everyone for your support will give anything a go really!

Might look into meditation, definitely need something to help switch off all these unwanted thoughts and worries