Catastrophizing Brain Filtering

Brains that catastrophize tend to dwell on disappointment and disaster, filtering out all positives until they seem to recognize only negatives. They tend to keep repeating whatever they did before, which did not work, while hoping for a different outcome. Many throw up their hands and refuse to problem solve, period, believing they are helpless and everything in life is beyond their capability. They often respond to helpful suggestions with: Nah, that won’t work. They may stop trying to learn or neglect to apply new information, convinced it won’t help anyway, or try blame others in an effort to reduce some of their own discomfort. Since they rarely are open to trying other options, they may miss opportunities that do exist, thus becoming their own worst enemy. Remember the words attributed to Winston S. Churchill, reportedly a bit of a worrier himself: “When I look back on all these worries, I remember the story of the old man who said on his deathbed that he had had a lot of trouble in his life, most of which had never happened.