Hi, I'm Dr. Calbeck
Welcome to my virtual office.
Today I'm talking about cognitive
behavioral psychotherapy.
One of the important parts about cognitive
behavioral psychotherapy is
recognizing mistakes and thinking.
And the mistake in thinking that I'm
talking about today is
called catastrophizing.
Catastrophizing is when you tell yourself
that something is terrible
or awful or a catastrophe.
Now, listen,
there are plenty of catastrophes out there
and we should be clear about
those when they are happening.
And at the same time,
it's possible to give yourself a lot
of anxiety, a lot of concern
that leads to unnecessary suffering when
you identify non-catastrophic events
as a terrible, horrible disaster.
So one of the aspects of cognitive
behavioral psychotherapy is recognizing
when you're making a mistake
by catastrophizing, what is happening.
When we do that, we send a message to our
brain and that induces a release of stress
hormones that then leads us
to feel very bad in our bodies.
That creates an upward spiral of upset
thinking and feeling and can
lead us to make bad decisions.
And it can also lead us to feel
stagnated and a little paralyzed.
So when you tell yourself that something
is terrible or horrible or that you just
can't stand it, ask yourself,
is that logical and is that helpful?
If there is truly a catastrophe happening,
then yes, go ahead and make some
plans to deal with the catastrophe.
So, for example, here in Miami,
when a hurricane is coming,
that has the potential to be catastrophic
and we should take action
to prepare for it.
But when we encounter a difficult
situation but label it as a catastrophe,
we are likely to feel
overly upset and have an increased
amount of suffering that is unnecessary.
So when you have a difficult interaction
with a friend or with a partner,
remember to label that appropriately.
That was tough.
That was difficult.
And here's how I can
get myself through it.
So I hope you enjoyed
being with me today to think about
the cognitive error of catastrophizing.
Thank you so much for watching this video
about cognitive behavioral therapy
here in my virtual office.
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Thank you so much for watching today.
