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Irrational Thinking 101: Thoughts
That Feed Agoraphobia
by Stephen Price
Most people with agoraphobia (or other anxiety
disorders) practice some or all of these types of irrational thinking that contribute to
anxiety, panic, and fear:
Catastrophic thinking: Blowing negative events or feelings way out of
proportion. Turning small mistakes or minor
setbacks into major catastrophes through exaggerated
thinking. The magnification of negative events leads to
a magnification of fear, anxiety, or panic experienced
as a result.
Black-or-white
thinking (also called all-or-nothing thinking):
Viewing everything in terms of absolutes or extremes.
Things are either right or wrong, good or bad, with no
in between.
Perfectionism goes hand-in-hand with all or nothing
thinking. People who think this way are often
perfectionists, putting themselves under a great deal of
unnecessary pressure with unrealistic expectations,
which increases anxiety and fear of failing. If their
unrealistic expectations are not met, they tend to label
themselves as “bad” or a failure.”
Magnifying the
negative:
This type of thinking is a close cousin to
black-or-white thinking. Magnifying the negative means
dwelling on the negative aspects of something and making
it seem much larger than the positive aspects. You will
often hear people who think this way making statement
that start with "yeah, but."
Overgeneralizing: Assuming
something that happened one time in one place or
situation (usually a negative event) will continue to
happen in all places and situations. If you have
agoraphobia, you will be familiar with
overgeneralization because overgeneralizing after your
first panic attacks is probably what led to agoraphobia.
Emotional
reasoning:
Using emotions, or how you feel, as evidence to back up
irrational thinking. Doing this can lead to
inappropriate emotional responses to events or
circumstances (such as panic or anxiety) as well as
self-defeating behaviors. Emotional reasoning is
sometimes done in the face of objective evidence to the
contrary.
Personalizing: Assuming the
blame for something that you might have influenced but
was not totally under your control. This leads to
anxiety that comes from feeling too responsible for
other people’s emotions, decisions or behavior.
Negative mind
reading:
Assuming that other people are thinking and feeling
negative things about you without any real evidence to
support your assumption. Some people with agoraphobia
live as though they were psychic, always assuming the
worst case scenario when interpreting other people's
comments, expressions and behaviors. People with
agoraphobia suffer from a lot of unnecessary anxiety
that comes from always assuming the worst when it comes
to how other people might be perceiving them and
wondering what they might be doing wrong to cause such
negative reactions from others.
Rigid
Expectations:
Thinking of
personal preferences, wants, or choices in terms of
absolute rules. Rigid expectations are usually expressed
with words like “should,” “ought to,” “have to,” and
“must.”
Fatalistic thinking: Thinking of yourself as powerless to make choices or
affect the outcomes of your own life. Fatalistic
thinking is holding the belief that the forces that
govern your life circumstances lie completely beyond
your control. This is a way of not taking responsibility
for your decisions and behavior.
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