Hi @lisalucier, @jimhd, @guener and others,

While this type of catastrophizing has not been with me, I know of others who have experienced it. I have an elderly family member who does the same thing. If she can't reach someone within a short period of time, she will envision them on an operating table, in a horrific auto accident or lying dead. She had a tremendous loss when she was a teenager, losing two close family members at the same time. I've always felt that her catastrophizing was a result of underlying, unresolved grief and/or possibly undeserved and false guilt.

If you have this type of catastrophizing, I would suggest that you take a moment to write down how you are feeling at that very moment, what feelings you are experiencing, and what it reminds you of from your past, especially moments of great stress, surprise, harshness, etc.

This may work if it is related to some buried or difficult memory that has not been fully faced or dealt with.