We're now going to demonstrate an essential component to controlling your thoughts in order to empower you to control your bodily responses. This panic attack or anxiety state in which you find yourself feels like a catastrophe, but in reality, it is not . If you think about it, a catastrophe is a situation which won't get better or which will drastically alter your and your loved one's lives in a profoundly and perhaps chronically negative way. Your panic attack is not effecting the safety or health of someone you love. Therefore, your panic is NOT a catastrophe.
People tend to catastrophize when they lack mature coping skills.
This is not a criticism. Many, many people manage to make it to adulthood without ever developing the coping techniques they will need to face adversity. Whatever the reasons that might have caused a given person to grow-up without coping techniques, the good news is that they can be learned . In the meantime, learning to get a hold of catastrophic thinking is a first step in banishing your panic and putting you in the position to develop functional coping mechanisms. In the next two lessons, we will be discussing regression and healthy ways to overcome the instinct to regress.