🔎Concept Overview

Catastrophizing

Have you ever caught your athlete spiraling into worst-case scenarios?

"I'll fail this test, then fail the class, then never get into college and end up living in a cardboard box!"

This pattern of thinking is called catastrophizing – where our brains jump from a small setback straight to imagining complete disaster.

It's like our minds are directed by horror movie producers who specialize in creating the scariest possible endings!

Recently, I discovered a simple but powerful phrase that can stop this mental freefall: "That's not true because..."

⚒️Action Items

"That's not true because..."

These four words act like an emergency brake on runaway catastrophic thoughts. When you catch your athlete thinking "I'll never land this skill," teach them to pause and say, "That's not true because... I've been making progress in practice" or "That's not true because... I consistently try my best."

This phrase forces our brains to find evidence against the catastrophic thought rather than letting it spiral unchallenged. It helps us reconnect with reality instead of living in our imagination.

Teaching your athlete to use this technique creates a powerful interruption to their negative thoughts.

Instead of letting negative thoughts control their emotions and performance, they learn to challenge those thoughts and find more balanced perspectives.

📘Helpful Resources

A great article about catastrophizing

• ​https://www.ama-assn.org/delivering-care/behavioral-health/what-doctors-wish-patients-knew-about-stopping-catastrophic​

In depth look into many other thinking distortions

• ​https://www.psychologytools.com/articles/unhelpful-thinking-styles-cognitive-distortions-in-cbt​