How to Stop a ‘What If’ Anxiety Spiral before it Goes into Overdrive

You may know the spiral well: It starts off as a single worry, such as how tonight’s date will go, whether you made a mistake at work or what an abnormal medical test result means. Then it takes on a life of its own. What if they don’t like me? and What if this result means something serious? become What if I never find someone? and What if I’m dying? Potential outcomes spin off into terrible futures, and next thing you know, you’re fielding some flavor of What if everything turns out terribly and nothing is ever okay?!

This emotional tailspin is what therapists call catastrophizing, a type of negative thought pattern that zeroes in on worst-case outcomes, said Joanna Arch, a clinical psychologist and professor in the psychology and neuroscience department at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

"At any moment in time, there are a wide array of future possibilities and catastrophic thinking means fixating on the worst among them," Arch added.

Please select this link to read the complete article from The Washington Post.