Catastrophizing Anxiety

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Matthew's Response:

Let's start by, as is typical, doing some Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) on the first question.  Certainly you may have heard of this tendency referred to as catastrophizing anxiety.

Consult the list of Cognitive Distortions by clicking here (don't worry it will open up in a new window and you will not lose your place) and write down what Distortions exist. Tip: imagine everyone from the first person (as if this were your question).

I'm sure that you're familiar with the process of CBT now but I'll give you a hint: look at some of the words as they in and of themselves hold the key to what Distortions exist.

Okay, here are the Distortions:

Always - The word "always" indicates all or nothing thinking as the definition of this Distortion is "Thinking of things in absolute terms, like ‘always’, ‘every’ or ‘never’. Few aspects of human behavior are so absolute."

Feel - The word "feel" indicates Emotional Reasoning as this Distortion is defined as "Making decisions and arguments based on how you feel rather than objective reality."

About to Happen - The words "about to happen" indicate Fortune Telling because this Distortion is defined as "Assuming something negative where there is no evidence to support it."

Now let's generate some alternative, more realistic, thoughts.

I don't always feel that something but will happen; I do have moments in which I feel better.  I am working on my thoughts so I will work towards increasing my moments in which I feel better rather than trying to eliminate all moments in which I feel bad.

While I may feel that something bad will happen, this only represents a feeling, not necessarily reality.

There have been many times when I felt something bad was going to happen and nothing that bad happened at all.

The second question asked was:

“Why is my anxiety so much worse in the morning?”

Again this second question is akin of a catastrophizing anxiety but there is a strategy that I would like to suggest called the What if Technique - another Cognitive Behavioral strategy.  The idea is that rather than trying to refute a certain thought you completely buy into it and ask yourself: what if this were true? So you don't refute the fact that you will have anxiety in the morning, you work with it and confront your fear - don't deny it.

This brings me to the second part of this suggestion: learn to know that this will be the case (worse anxiety in the morning) but this anxiety will pass and then you can get on with your day. So: plan to confront this anxiety.

Think of it this way: if you could set your clock to something that you knew would happen - would it not make sense to ride it out everyday and then immediately get on with your day? Of course it would.  Well the same is true for your panic attacks.  
This was certainly true for me and many others.  That is, by utilizing this strategy the morning anxiety eventually became no more consequential in severity than any other anxiety. So preparing in advance is a strategy that can indeed be beneficial.

Finally, for anyone in search of an explanation as to why anxiety is typically worse in the morning, here's my thinking: If you think about it waking up is a dramatic change of state.  You have been in the middle of sleep, your brain waves were moving slowly.  Now waking consciousness is certainly a different state of affairs. Think about this: even non-anxiety sufferers have trouble with waking up.  Admittedly non-anxiety sufferers may handle things differently.

The transition from sleep to waking life is an adjustment for everyone.  Add to this is that anxiety can hit when we are most vulnerable and it is during this transition from being asleep to waking up that we are emotionally fragile.  But remember you now have a strategy that will help you deal with anxiety even if you feel it is catastrophizing anxiety.

There are many more helpful cognitive behavioral techniques - and many other techniques - that will help with your anxiety, panic attacks, and agoraphobia that will help you even more. 

In my free newsletter I provide many additional tips for improving your sleep and sharing how you can partake in an overall holistic approach to anxiety, panic attack and agoraphobia recovery.  The newsletter is laid out in a step-by-step format. 

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