Dear Caroline:

You asked about catastrophizing, “How did you overcome this? I feel like I am mentally ill. I cannot handle my emotions. They are too much“-

I overcame much of my catastrophizing tendency through Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) where you learn to challenge a catastrophizing (or any distressing) thought.

I overcame my feeling that I was mentally ill and that my emotions were too much for me to manage (same as what you are struggling with)  through emotion regulation skills, another term is distress tolerance skills.

“Yesterday I couldn’t sleep, I think I was having a panic attack, my heart was racing. And today I am exhausted“- a panic attack is definitely a dysregulated emotional event. Part of my learning of emotion regulation skills when I went to therapy was to listen to an audio of a guided meditation of the mindfulness theme. There are some- or many- available online for no charge. maybe listening to one at night will help you sleep better.

“Maybe I will get some sick days or days off.“- reads like a good idea!

anita