Using Catastrophizing to Advantage: The mitigate-then-compartmentalize tactic

Catastrophizing gets a bad rap: True, if we focus on the worst-case scenario, we’re more anxious, often without being able to do much about it.

But catastrophizing can also enable us prepare for that worst case or to reduce that fear by rehearsing it as kids do when, for example, playing with a toy fire truck.

We catastrophize not just about personal matters but societal ones. For example, after Donald Trump was elected, some people catastrophized that it would lead to America’s downfall. I had friends who planned to move to Canada to escape. Today, some people are catastrophizing Biden’s redistributive, leftward agenda, fearing it will turn America into a third-world nation.

How can we derive catastrophizing’s benefits while limiting its liabilities? My Psychology Today article today suggests the mitigate-then-compartmentalize tactic