Decatastrophizing thought: what we mean and what we don't mean.

Cognitive reappraisal is one of the most powerful and widely used practices in therapy. That is, the questioning of our automatic interpretations of reality and the development of more accurate thoughts and assessments..

One of the fundamental techniques within this process is the decatranstophization of thought. This technique, however, is frequently misinterpreted and confused with adopting an overly optimistic and naive attitude, which we will refer to as “rainbow thinking”.

Below we will develop the differences between these two perspectives and point out the risks of falling into that “rainbow thinking”.

What do we mean by decatastrophizing?

Decatastrophization It is a practice that consists of stop those catastrophic automatic thoughts, of the “the worst always happens” type.

Pause to examine them more broadly and calmly, trying to assess and put into perspective the real probability of such a catastrophic situation occurring, and above all, considering other options that are more in line with reality.

We don't want to convince ourselves that everything will always turn out great, but rather to become aware that, in most cases, what worries and fears us isn't as inevitable or insurmountable as it appears in our minds.

The rainbow thought

Sometimes, in this effort to decatastrophize and have thoughts that are more in line with reality, we run the risk of falling into the trap of “rainbow thinking”The idea that everything will always go as planned and that life is always rosy.

Nothing could be further from the truth; this attitude can be counterproductive. Life is not without challenges, uncertainties, and even losses; and turning a deaf ear to these possibilities can leave us without strategies to deal with difficulties when they arise.

We don't want to deny problems and suffering, falling into an illusion of control and a certain naiveté. We want to prevent our way of thinking from unnecessarily multiplying and aggravating the experiences of suffering that we will all have to face at some point. An example of this could be depression.

Ultimately, by decatastrophizing, we seek to learn to expand the range of possible scenarios, accepting that although there is a small probability that the worst will sometimes happen, most of the time it doesn't, and there is an immense range of intermediate possibilities between the worst and best cases.

It doesn't mean convincing ourselves that nothing bad will happen, but rather stopping automatically assuming that worst it is most likely.

Facing difficulties with realism and commitment, without fatalism, but also without fantasies.