To catastrophize is to treat a worry as a disaster in your head. You may decide that something terrible is about to happen, even when that is not likely; or you may look at something that already went wrong and blow it up until it feels much worse than it is. A late text becomes “they hate me.” One poor test becomes “my life is over.” Doctors who work with thoughts use this word a lot; they see catastrophizing as a habit of thinking, not as a report of the facts. Friends use it too, a little more loosely: “Stop catastrophizing” means “stop jumping to the worst story.” It sounds a bit like clinic talk, though actually younger people now say it in ordinary conversation. It does not mean you cause a catastrophe. It means you paint one. British spelling is often catastrophise; the meaning is the same.

災難化、把事情往最慘處想。諮商裡常說「災難化思考」。