It's not uncommon for people recovering from religious trauma to experience worst case thinking, also known as catastrophic thinking. Catastrophic thinking can be defined as ruminating about irrational, worst-case outcomes. This causes anxiety and can lead to people not being able to take any action, even when action is immediately required. Catastrophic thinking can also lead to circular thinking and is tied to the fear of making mistakes, both are also debilitating, which leads to even more anxiety. It's an awful cycle to find yourself caught in.
The link between fundamentalism and catastrophic thinking is very clear. I would even go as far as to say that the basis of fundamentalism is catastrophic thinking. It teaches us to think in extreme absolutes - eternal salvation vs. eternal damnation. At the root of fundamentalism are two things - You are not OK and You are not safe. The doctrine of original sin teaches you (maybe since early childhood) that you were born as a helpless, even worthless sinner, by no fault of your own. And it is only by the grace of God - Jesus dying for your sins, that you have any hope of not being tortured for all eternity. Life is portrayed as this test of right thinking and right action, with the pass/fail being your eternal salvation/damnation. This puts a very heavy weight on not just every decision you have to make, but also on every thought you think, as wrong thinking can also be sinful - Matthew 5:28.
If you were taught that "once saved always saved," you may find yourself wondering if you were ever truly saved. It's not like there's a directory you can check to see if your name is in the saved column or that you get a letter in the mail declaring your acceptance into the saved club. You are told it's just something that you are supposed to know and many people who are honest with themselves have a hard time truly knowing this. Is it any wonder then that many who were indoctrinated into fundamentalism struggle with catastrophic thinking? We were taught that the result of our shortcomings is quite literally eternal damnation, and the only way to avoid this is a subjective sense of knowing we have been saved.
To add to all of this, many of us in fundamentalism have been taught that "the whole world is under the control of the evil one." The entirety of the world, outside of our church, is evil and wicked and even hates us because we are of the Lord. Can you see how being taught this, especially since young childhood, can have extreme negative impacts on one's thought processes?
At the root of catastrophic thinking are the same two basic ideas found in fundamentalism - You are not OK and You are not safe. Because of this, catastrophic thinking is actually a learned safety mechanism. By imaging and ruminating on the worst possible outcomes we keep ourselves from taking risks (which are inherently dangerous) and we keep ourselves in patterns already known to us rather than venturing into the unknown, which is potentially dangerous. While catastrophic thinking can keep us safe, the price for using this technique is high because it keeps us in a state of fear and develops a lack of self-confidence.
Catastrophic thinking can become even worse when you go through the process of losing your faith. This is because while the religion taught you to think this way, it at least offered a possible solution - your faith in Jesus and the promise of an eternal afterlife in paradise. The irony of this is that the thing that claims to be your solution is also the thing that convinced you in the first place that you are not OK. When you go through the process of losing your faith, you actually do the most catastrophic thing imaginable, you leave the one thing that you've always believed was your safety. You now have to navigate the world and learn how to think for yourself without the "safety" of your religious beliefs to fall back on.
Dealing with catastrophic thinking begins with recognizing it for what it is - a learned safety mechanism that is the result of being indoctrinated into a fundamentalist religion. It is a symptom of religious trauma and probably something you've been dealing with most of your life, but since losing your faith it has likely become more of an issue. When you notice yourself imagining worst case scenarios it's important to stop and take a break. Become aware of your surroundings, take a couple deep slow breaths, look around - what do you see around you? What can you hear, feel, smell, and taste? Then ask yourself, "am I safe?" and "am I OK?" You will likely answer yes to both of those questions, but if you are actually in danger of some kind do what is necessary to get yourself to safety. Once you have established that you are safe, you can then challenge the catastrophic line of thinking. Ask yourself, "is that really true?" Then consciously spend some time imaging the opposite. Let yourself imagine what the absolute best possible outcome would be. Unlearning catastrophic thinking is a process, you need to teach yourself to imagine positive outcomes, just like learning any new skill. You may find it useful to keep a small notepad and pen on you at all times so you can take notes of the catastrophic thoughts. This will allow you to notice any patterns and also looking at the thoughts on paper, and even reading them out loud will help you see just how unlikely and ridiculous they are. Be kind to yourself as you go through this process and understand that it takes time and effort, but it will get better as you go along. Finding someone you can talk to about this who understands will also help tremendously.
Instead of thinking catastrophically, think fantastically.
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