UFYB 44: Catastrophizing
UnF*ck Your Brain: Feminist Self-Help for Everyone
Kara Loewentheil
4.6 • 5.5K Ratings
🗓️ 30 August 2018
⏱️ 11 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week, I want to talk to you about the concept of catastrophizing, or imagining all the possible future negative scenarios that could happen and emotionally reacting as if they were real. We take a look at why we do this and how it impacts the results we have in our life. I share three simple but powerful tools that will help you kick your catastrophizing habit to the curb.
Get full show notes and more information here: https://unfckyourbrain.com/44
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Welcome to Unfuck Your Brain. The only podcast that teaches you how to use psychology, feminism, |
| 0:14.0 | and coaching to rewire your brain and get what you want in life. And now here's your |
| 0:19.3 | host, Harvard Law School grad, feminist rock star, and master coach, Carla Lohan-Thyle. |
| 0:31.0 | Hello my chickens. So I am actually around some regular chickens this week like actual chickens. |
| 0:39.0 | My family has a place upstate and we have some chickens. So I have been thinking about you guys |
| 0:44.8 | and all the chickens. And if you've never hung out with actual chickens, chickens do not have |
| 0:49.8 | managed minds. And chickens get freaked out all the time. They seemingly for no reason. I'm sure we've |
| 0:55.4 | all heard the term running around like a chicken with its head cut off, which is actually quite gruesome, |
| 1:00.2 | but chickens kind of run around like that even with their heads on. And I think that much like |
| 1:05.4 | real chickens, a lot of us run around, clocking, and squawking even when nothing's really happened yet. |
| 1:11.2 | Right. So today I want to teach you about catastrophizing, which is basically mentally running |
| 1:16.9 | around like a chicken with its head cut off. So catastrophizing is the habit of imagining |
| 1:22.5 | all the possible future negative scenarios that could happen and emotionally reacting to your |
| 1:27.8 | brain as if they're real. So let's say you get an email from your boss and immediately you start |
| 1:33.4 | worrying that she hates you and you're going to get fired and end up living in a van. |
| 1:37.9 | And there's someone you've been dating calls you and doesn't leave a message and you immediately |
| 1:41.9 | panic, assuming that they're kind of break up with you and now you're going to die alone. |
| 1:46.5 | I'm sure this sounds familiar to some of you. When you do this, you are catastrophizing. |
| 1:51.8 | You are predicting a worst case outcome, a catastrophe, when nothing has actually happened yet. |
| 1:58.5 | And the problem is that your brain doesn't know that nothing has happened. Your brain just knows |
| 2:03.5 | what you tell it and when you think about the catastrophe happening, your brain thinks it's |
| 2:07.6 | actually happening. So it releases cortisol and adrenaline, right? The stress hormones. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Kara Loewentheil, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of Kara Loewentheil and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.