Flashback occurring at same time as present situations anxiety

[sky]

I don't know what to do about this "double" thing that happens...

I'll be feeling anxious about a current situation (medical), feeling out of control and anxious i'll get hurt.
This triggers flashbacks to when i got hurt and was out of control of a situation in the past with an abusive husband.

The "emotional" flashback "colors" the present situation with extreme emotions (worst case scenarios usually), and its difficult to sort out and deal with the "normal" anxiety one would feel with a medical situation. 

I find myself applying worst case scenario thoughts to present medical situation and believing they are true.  Having the emotional flashback emotions at the same time as the present situations anxiety is really confusing. 

Does anyone have this difficulty?

[AphoticAtramentous]

I believe that is essentially 'Catastrophizing', and a lot of us can relate to it I'm sure. I could be wrong though?
"view or present a situation as considerably worse than it actually is.
- traumatic experiences can predispose people to catastrophize" - Google lol

I'm afraid I'm not really sure how to handle it when it happens honestly. But you're not alone on it.

[Dee]

My therapist taught me to think in percentages.  What is the % that this can happen?  What is the % of people have the issue?  Another thing I do is try to use fact based challenges.  Not in the same area, but an example is I might tell myself I am stupid.  I can challenge that with my education.

It is about cognitive distortions and how to challenge them.  You can even search cognitive distortions and will get a wealth of good advice on how to handle it.

[Candid]

I believe that is essentially 'Catastrophizing', and a lot of us can relate to it I'm sure.

I have this contradictory thing, based on whether I've slept or not, where either I can see my way through and feel okay -- even good -- about life OR everything's impossible right now, I'm headed for greater disaster and I might as well roll over and give up.  Catastrophizing is definitely the word for those days.

It helps me to know not to do anything hasty --- just go take a nap.

[sky]

thank you to those who have replied so far - very kind of you to do that!  Its a big relief to hear i may be predisposed to catastrophizing because of the past trauma - I was wondering if that was true.  Also notice that sorting through emotions is easier when i've had enough sleep.  Unfortunately the challenging of catastrophizing doesn't work well for me - challenges like "how likely do you think it is that your worst case scenario thought will occur?" seem ludicrous to me because if i thought it wasn't very likely then i wouldn't be so intent on thinking it, so i must think its pretty likely! Sometimes i think i cling to it because i think it protects me somehow - but it sure is uncomfortable thinking it.