Recognizing automatic thoughts, part 2

 Last time we checked some automatic thoughts. Today I'd like to share some of mine - more specific to somatic symptom disorder / illness anxiety disorder. First, a reminder:

Every action reinforces the motivation behind the action.

Especially for a sufferer of anxiety, an action can be motivated by automatic thoughts. The anxiety tells us to do something. Each time we take that action, we give in to the anxiety, reinforcing it's hold on us.

Recognize the thought

My favorite is avoidance. Avoidance is not a thought, but an action. This action is motivated by automatic thoughts. For example I'll avoid running, as I believe it can cause harm to me. Each time I choose not to run and nothing bad happens, my brain makes a causal connection: nothing happened because I did not run. Well done! Yet another risk avoided!

Why did I think running is dangerous? Because I believe physical activity can harm my body (classic problem in somatic symptom disorder). Why do I believe that? The two reasons are:

1) Because I have experienced scary symptoms when I have been physically active. 

2) Also, because running elevates my heartbeat, which feels like a panic attack, and I hate panic attacks. 

Evidence

Next we'll look at the evidence supporting, and against, each thought.

	Previous bad experiences	Similar to a panic attack
Evidence for	1. I have had symptoms when running.  2. News articles of people who have died during a physical activity due to the strain on their bodies, proving it's dangerous.	Yes, it feels similar...
Evidence against	1. I cannot prove my symptoms were caused by running. I could have felt them even if I did not run. 2. The news articles may have left out information of other reasons these people have passed away. Also, they are a tiny, tiny minority compared to people who have actual benefits from running.	... but the reason is completely different. My body reacts to physical activity by elevating the heart rate to make sure I can move and run, that my muscles have energy and that my body gets enough oxygen. The "panic sensations" are the sensations of my body behaving correctly and helping me achieve what I want (running).

This is already making me nervous. The evidence AGAINST is mounting. My brain right now is screaming my favorite phrase: it's not worth the risk!

For now, we'll ignore it and look at the conclusion from our evidence. 

In summary, there are some cases where physical activity has caused harm. However, there is not enough data to say those people were similar to me - what happened to them is not applicable to me. Science proves that I am causing more harm to myself by being still than by being active.  

(but it's not worth the risk there are fit and healthy people in better shape than me and they died just like that I'm going to die if I run is that what you want?)

... And I really do not know what to say. This is the part I can't cross. I get stuck. The voice of anxiety is just too loud and it's logic too strong. 

Well dang it.