Catastrophic thinking, in its simplest form, is when an individual assumes the worst will come true. It is when a person sees an unfavorable outcome of an event and then decides if it does happen, the result will be a disaster.
Catastrophic thinking is taking a setback to the worst possible outcome. The adage about when you play country song backward, you get your job back, your pick-up back, and your lady back is the reverse of catastrophic thinking!
Negative or catastrophic thinking plays a very important part in the athletic arena. Therefore, many examples from this world will be cited.
What is Catastrophic Thinking?
According to Psychology Today, catastrophic thinking can be described as ruminating about irrational, worst-case outcomes. Two common ways of describing catastrophic thinking are “making a mountain out of a molehill” and “blowing things out of proportion.
