Anxiety conditions are a common occurrence in thyroid disease patients.

A few years ago, a young lady e-mailed, asking me if having bizarre thoughts about terrible things, was common with severe anxiety states. I assured her that these type thoughts were indeed common to anxiety sufferers and that the name for them is "catastrophic thinking".

She had described to me, that when severe anxiety states occurred with her, she would have racing thoughts, many of them having to do with the fear of losing control and hurting self, or others and sometimes the thought of even harming her own baby. This was understandably very concerning to her because like many anxiety sufferers, she believed these violent, sadistic and tragic type thoughts, indicated that she was on the verge of losing her sanity.

Catastrophic thinking, happens commonly with anxiety sufferers and many people refer to it as "what if thinking". Anxiety Disorder patients describe thoughts like the above ones, that the young lady described but these can also include other fearful thoughts, such as thinking you will lose control in front of other people and make a complete fool of yourself. Other patients may have thoughts of passing out and needing an ambulance, but not being in a location where others will notice and call for help. Others describe thoughts of snapping and becoming violent to others around them or running down a supermarket isle, screaming at the top of their lungs.

One of the reasons catastrophic thinking is so unpleasant, other than for the reasons already stated, is because these thoughts will increase and intensify already present anxiety conditions. Catastrophic thinking in fact, can be a trigger for panic attacks. These "what if thoughts", tend to lead from one to another, until multiple fearful thoughts, are all happening at once, which you could properly refer to as the "snowball effect". The thoughts gain momentum and loom larger and more scary to the sufferer, as they increase during anxiety states.

Why in the world are these catastrophic type thoughts so common to anxiety sufferers? According to anxiety researchers, they believe, these thoughts happen because the "fight or flight response", will kick-in a mechanism, having to do with our thought processes, which will begin to scan for dangers. Of course with anxiety disorders, there are no real dangers and so the mind, will tend to consider possibilities for why the body is reacting as it is, by triggering the fight or flight response. This scanning for dangers, is actually part of the protection mechanism, meant to keep us safe however, the person experiencing them, will misinterpret this as meaning they will actually act on these thoughts and fulfill them.

Let me assure you that this is not the case. The fact that the thoughts are scary to you, in itself, is proof that you do not wish to act on them. Someone who actually is considering such actions will actually take pleasure in these thoughts and contemplate them, rather than fearing them and fighting them. These type thoughts are very common to anxiety disorder sufferers and do not in any way, indicate that you are losing your sanity or actually about to snap and go out of control.

The best way to overcome the fear of such thoughts, which will in turn also cause them to fade away and stop happening, is to reassure yourself of these facts. I have read the testimonials of anxiety sufferers who actually learned to see humor in these thoughts, rather than being terrified of them and this resulted in catastrophic thinking, losing its power in their lives. This is of course easier said than done but with time and repeated reassuring of one's self, it can be accomplished, with very good results.

When you think about it, these type thoughts can actually be humorous and you might even add a little humor to them yourself, as they begin happening! For example, if you have a fear of losing control, add to that thought, the idea of climbing a tree and hanging from a limb, upside down by your legs. This might sound like a ridiculous method but it can be as effective as any other method, in diverting your thoughts and getting them more under your control. A final bit of advice I would give however, is not to make it a fight or struggle, any more than you have to, instead, almost make a little game out of it, or see it as an interesting experiment because anxiety seems to thrive on struggle. Once you gain ground on catastrophic thinking, you will see the struggle aspect of gaining control of your thoughts, fade away and over time, it will automatically be replaced with pleasant, positive thoughts and thinking.