The late Albert Ellis, one of the pioneers in the field of Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, introduced the word, catastrophizing, into the psychology practice literature.
Catastrophizing refers to the cognitive processing of information in such a way that things that are objectively annoying, inconvenient or unpleasant are treated as if they are awful, horrendous, or tragic. There is no distinction made among unsatisfying circumstances regardless of how objectively harmful they may be.
Getting caught in traffic that makes you late for an important appointment is objectively too bad. The same holds true if you get the flu and have to miss the concert that you’ve been waiting to hear, or if your flight gets cancelled, or if you have to sit through a rain delay at a ball game, or if a potential romantic partner isn’t as enthused about a possible relationship as you are.
There are lousy things that happen in the world – even tragedies, as you are well aware if you pay any attention at all to the news. Over time, some tragic occurrences may significantly impact upon you and/or those close to you. But not every negative event that affects you has catastrophic consequences. The more likely outcome will be that we just won’t be getting what we want. That’s too bad – but not tragic.
As human beings, one of our greatest gifts is a complex brain that can function better than the brains of any of the other species. Don’t abuse it by not differentiating between “too bad” and tragic.
An orientation toward catastrophizing leads to unnecessary negative thinking too much of the time, and that interferes with your potential for achievement and happiness.