Catastrophizing starts with the words, what if. You worry about the worst case senario. The list is endless. There are no limits to a catastrophic imagination. Magnifying emphasizes things out of proportion to their actual importance.
Small mistakes can become tragic failures.
Minor suggestions become scathing criticism. You view everything negative and difficult in your life through a telescope that enlarges your problems. But when you view your assess, such as your abililty to cope and find solutions, you look through the wrong end of the telescope so that everything positive is minimized. Personalizing is the tendency to relate everything around you to yourself. Personalization also involves directly comparing yourself with other people.