Just a irrational vs. rational table I wanted to share

[stopthissong]

I made this for myself but thought I'd customise it and share it with you all. Take it or leave it. It's helpful when you just can't think rationally. It might not be relevant to you so if it's not just ignore this. I tried to upload it as a screenshot picture but it wouldn't work, so here's to hoping it is still easy to read. Hope it helps.

Feeling/thought	Logical/rational reason for the feeling/thought
Feeling n*	Anxiety causes an elevated heart rate, causing one to feel dizziness and therefore n*. Anxiety also causes the digestive system to be put on the backburner in order for one to “protect” oneself from a severe life-threatening situation, ultimately leading to n* feelings. Feelings of n* aren’t always associated with v* and can be caused by new medication, menstruation, having a cold etc.
Didn’t think an item of food tasted “right”	Probably was nervous prior to eating and focussed on the very specifics of what the food tasted like. Checking the used by date, smelling the food and seeing if other people think it tastes right, is proof that this thought is irrational.
Went out in public or a seemingly “unsafe” place/travelling/going to a party/social gathering etc.	Counting how many hours since being in public is irrational behaviour. Even if a person does touch something “unsafe”, doesn’t mean it’s the end of the world. Trust the human body, which is continually regenerating and protecting. As a child, you wouldn’t have cared about what you touched in public and you probably stuck your finger in your mouth and you were perfectly fine. If you’re phobic, you probably spent a lot of time washing your hands, hand sanitising, and making a conscious effort to not touch your face/mouth/eyes/nose etc.
Gassy/burping	This is normal! It’s what the body does to expel air and it is necessary. People do these things many times throughout the day, it’s a normal occurrence. In all the irrational stress, one could have forgotten the can of coke recently downed, which would provide a very logical reason for this one.
D*	A diet change or eating a rich meal can cause this and it is something that happens to many and something that that many do not even think twice about. Anxiety/stress from this phobia but also from any other kind of stress can cause d*, as well as all that chick stuff. If you’re phobic and tend to skip meals and then go back into eating more substantial meals then this could happen.
Cramps/pain/bloating	Also a normal thing. People get this all the time and for no reason sometimes.
Loss of appetite	People don’t eat when they are hungry. If people waited until they were hungry for every meal, then obesity wouldn’t be so common. There is a difference between not being hungry for lunch because you ate a big breakfast (but you eat lunch anyway because you’re not phobic) and not being hungry for lunch because you had a big breakfast, freaking out about it, making yourself anxious and therefore making yourself n*, and consequently substituting lunch for antiemetic’s, thinking that there is something wrong with you.

Ask yourself this: If someone else felt the way you are or had the same thought, would they care? Probably not. If you described it to a Doctor, they wouldn’t show great concern either.

[Cynna]

I think this could help others.

[Momma2tworockstars]

This is a great thread! This could help a lot of people. Great idea!!

[stopthissong]

That's what I thought Most of these things are what people have told me when I've panicked on this forum.

[jennjt]

This is awesome! Thanks for posting

[tatty8]

great post.