Does anyone else think of the worst case scenario with everything? The smallest thing, like someone is late, you think maybe they've crashed their car. Or for example my friend told me today that she's having abdominal pains and is going for an ultra sound, and I'm immediately thinking what if it's cancer. I do this with myself and most people around me, it's worse some times than others.
I always think the worst case scenario for everything so that Im not caught off guard.
Absolutely - this is very common! I believe Dr. Mark Crawford coined the phrase "catastrophizing". He writes that catastrophizing is “imagining the worst-case scenario of a situation and reacting to the imagined ‘catastrophe’ rather than the actual situation. Their anxiety level matches the imagined catastrophe rather than the fact that nothing has happened.” He also writes about other common manifestations of OCD such as Emotional Reasoning, Dichotomous Thinking and Selective Attention in his book entitled "The Obsessive-Compulsive Trap: Real Help for a Real Disorder". I reference and touch on those concepts in a book I wrote (from a Christian perspective), you can see more at WagingWarAgainstOCD.com Hope this helps!
Yes I do this also
Thanks its good to know I'm not the only one. It's draining.
@Anonymous Take a look at my newest post it’s my newest rumination isssue which is similar to your issue
yes the catastrophizing is exhausting
I do this all the time
i totally get what you're going through. it must be exhausting having worst case scenarios play out over and over. it's tough, but remember you're so much stronger than your ocd. 💪 by the way, have you heard about this new AI-powered OCD therapy tool called 'unstuck?' my nocd therapist recommended it when i was in a similar situation as you. given your tendency to jump to worst case scenarios, 'unstuck' (unstuckmyocd.com/try) can help by providing step-by-step support to face these intrusive thoughts without letting them spiral. i hate when people promote stuff, but i really think it can help you because it's changed my life. lmk if you have qs or just want to talk more! <3
Has anyone thought about something and have it come true? So for instance I thought about suicide and then one of my cousins committed suicide. I Think about something bad and then next thing I know it happens to me or someone I know. Now I'm having such bad anxiety about all these bad things that may happen to me and my family that I obsess over it causing me to extensively pray. It's exhausting and idk what to do or how to control it. I feel like every thought has or will come true that I'm having a hard time.
Does anyone else struggle with always searching for something to be wrong, especially in good times? When things are good or I get good news I am looking for the next terrible possibility.
Hey everyone, I’m not sure if this is super OCD related, but I figured I’d post just to maybe feel less alone. I’m always worried in the back of my mind that I might have cancer, and it’s not for nothing, I have had two types of cancer before I was 10 years old. The fear doesn’t take over my life, but it’s definitely there. I recently got sent to check a large lump that appeared on my thyroid, and all diagnostics coming back so far are ruling out the easy non-cancer options. I’m worried, it’s not an unfounded worry, but it’s starting to interfere with my life in a way that feels like OCD. I’m scared, and if I’m completely honest, I’m extremely sad. The last thing I want to do is get life changing bad news in the middle of an OCD spiral. Anyway, thank you for reading, I think I just needed to get that off my chest ❤️🩹
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