Catastrophic Thinking and How it Perpetuates Paruresis

It’s safe to say that everyone is plagued by negative thoughts from time to time, and by and large, they don’t do a great deal of harm.  Many people are able to dismiss them as unrealistic. It is when these thoughts start to affect your day-to-day life – as they do to those suffering with the “bashful bladder” of paruresis – that you should really start to concern yourself with what is going on beneath the surface.  Catastrophic thinking is an underlying cause of many sources of anxiety and doubt.

The good news is that catastrophic thinking doesn’t have to ruin your life.  There are ways to lessen the impact of this way of thinking, and you can learn to re-direct your thoughts into helpful directions.  Allowing negative thinking to control your life is all too easy, but through exercises designed to help you live a more mindful life, you can reshape your life into whatever you want it to be – including one free of paruresis.

What is Catastrophic Thinking?

Catastrophic thinking is the worst case scenario that dominates a person’s thoughts when they imagine the outcome of a situation. It is also the glue that keeps people stuck in situations that they know are unacceptable or irrational, but the thoughts are so overwhelming that things seem hopeless.  Their vision becomes narrowed down to the negative outcomes, which results in a kind of internal paralysis.

People who suffer with shy bladder syndrome understand this paralysis all too well.  There are hundreds of stories on the Internet about people who have succumbed to overwhelming depression, because the stress of finding an unoccupied bathroom becomes too much to bear.  “What if there’s not an empty stall?” “What if someone walks in?” “What if I can’t go before we have to leave? Will my bladder explode?”

The lengths to which paruresis forces people to go to in order to comfortably use the bathroom damages their friendships, their home lives and their ability to go to school or work.  And in too many cases, it eventually leads people to abandon their quest for a “real life.” Some have even contemplated suicide because of their seeming inability to take action—both literally and figuratively.

The Physical Dangers of Catastrophic Thinking and Paruresis

Unfortunately, the problem with catastrophic thinking is that it impacts the body, as well.  The critical stress levels caused by anxiety-inducing thoughts keep the body in a perpetual “fight or flight” response, dumping stress hormones into your system that negatively impact your immune system.  Ultimately, this stress can contribute to developing ailments like heart problems, hypertension, diabetes, infections, skin problems, infertility and fibromyalgia.

When catastrophic thoughts are contributing to paruresis, the impact on the body can be even worse. Because people suffering with a bashful bladder will often be forced to “hold it” while hunting for an unoccupied bathroom, the strain on the bladder and the muscles surrounding it can be considerable. While it is extremely unlikely that the bladder will actually burst, “holding it” for extended periods of time is known to contribute to UTIs (urinary tract infections).  Chronic stress increases the risk for infection in general, making UTIs even more likely.

Reducing the Impact of Catastrophic Thoughts on Paruresis

The first and best way to begin overcoming the negative thinking that accompanies paruresis is to ask yourself a simple question whenever you find yourself in an uncomfortable situation:  Is it true?

Is it true that someone could walk into the bathroom just as soon as you’ve established a good stream?  Yes, absolutely.  But is it true that they’re going to judge you based on how long it takes you to finish, or how much noise your urine makes?  That is extremely unlikely, especially given how common paruresis actually is!  The International Paruresis Association reports that as many as 17 million people have issues with shy bladder syndrome.  You’re not alone, and the likelihood that someone will judge you in any way based on your bathroom performance is actually slim to none.

The solution to catastrophic thinking is to reprogram your mind to overlook the negative, to recognize and remove the blinders that cause that tunnel vision, and expand your thinking into realistic, positive realms.  This can be achieved through treatments like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and FRAME recognition, which train the mind to view the situation from outside oneself and react differently to situations that trigger extreme anxiety.

Once you learn how to recognize when negative thinking is rearing its ugly head, it becomes much easier to treat paruresis as a nuisance rather than an all-devouring dread.  Your mind may have taken one little fear and written a horror story into your life, but the good news is that you have editorial control!

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