Person who had a heart attack will be always on the lookout for the heart attack symptoms, which are normal most of the time (ex. increased heart rate). As soon as his heart rate increases, he misattributes it and labels it as catastrophic. "OMG. I am having a heartattack again". Need to re-evaluate misattributed sensation.
When we have a flu, we feel crappy. When flu goes away, we feel good. The same thing is with anxiety and depression symptoms. They are just labeled as catastrophic. For example, bad sleep for couple of days does not necessarily mean that I am falling into depression. Most of the time it's just a lot of things in my mind.
Catastrophic misattributions of bodily sensations reinforce
perceptions of threat, which intensifies anxiety, leading to more
anxiety-related bodily symptoms and yet more catastrophic misinterpretations in
a vicious cycle that can quickly spiral into a full-fledged panic attack and "fear of fear" (next day is going to be the same as today, i will never get better, i must not feel that way etc)
Modify catastrophic misinterpretations of bodily sensations, achieve re-evaluation of misattributed bodily sensation (somatic or cognitive)
Hypervigilance (self-checking)
and misattributing normal bodily sensations (somatic and cognitive) as
pathological and catastrophic. These sensations are just being human
(tired, angry, annoyed, sleeping less), even if they are spanning for days
(like a flu).
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