Fears and catastrophic thoughts in medically complicated pregnancies

Abstract

In our experience "High-risk" diagnosis stigmatizes the patient, compromises her self-esteem, fears come up, and often modifies her expectations of a successful pregnancy in a catastrophizing, unrealistic way. Thinking about the worst possible outcomes would facilitate adaptation to hostile environments, while optimistic thinking increases the risk of not reacting in time, but although this could explains why it could be possible to react with catastrophic thoughts to ambiguous situations, it still remains open the question about why some people have more frequent and harmful catastrophic thoughts leading to psychological distress and making it very difficult to cope with the unexpected pregnancy situation