by Stephanie Schwartz, M.S.
A few days ago, I started feeling pain in my tooth. I’ve never had any problems with my teeth before and typically only visit the dentist twice a year for routine cleanings. I started to feel anxious about the idea that something could be wrong. I was jumping to conclusions about the worse case scenario and telling myself, “I could need a root canal and that would be awful.” Catastrophizing about the situation not only made me anxious, but also kept my focus on my tooth and the pain I was feeling. The more I focused on the pain, the more it seemed to intensify and the more distracted and less productive I was. I needed to get through my day at work and could not go to the dentist immediately. To change how I was feeling I tried to look at the situation more rationally. It was possible I could need a root canal, and while I really hoped that wasn’t the case, it wouldn’t be awful. In addition to disputing my irrational belief I also recognized that the inference that I may need a root canal seemed excessive. While of course that was a possibility, I was able to recognize that I was probably overestimating the probability given the fact that I’d never had dental problems before and had no actual knowledge about what this pain could be related to. Changing my belief and inference helped me to change my emotional state, which allowed me to focus less on my pain and engage behaviorally in my work.
