Anxiety About the Future

A strong pattern is expecting something bad to happen, often vague or unspecified (e.g., “something bad is going to happen tonight,” “I might have a panic attack,” “I’ll lose control with food”).

The fear is often anticipatory, tied to evenings, meetings, or bedtime.

Safety & Control

You frequently seek reassurance that you’re safe in bed, safe at home, or in control of your actions (like eating habits).

A lot of journaling revolves around testing whether you’re “really in control” (e.g., food intake, panic responses, exposure exercises).

Stress & Overstimulation

Themes of being “wired,” tense, blank-minded, overstimulated by noise, light, or screens recur a lot.

Noise sensitivity and lack of peace at home are strong environmental triggers.

Negative Work Associations

Work often appears as emotionally draining, filled with meetings, or unfulfilling.

You tend to carry stress from work into evenings and weekends, which then compounds the sense of dread or fatigue.

Coping Experiments

You’re consistently trying exposures, reframes, relaxation exercises, CBT thought-challenging, diet tracking, and behavioral adjustments.

There’s resilience: even after setbacks, you reflect and look for alternative explanations.

2. Common Cognitive Distortions

I see these patterns repeatedly across your journaling:

Catastrophizing: Expecting worst-case scenarios (“I could have a panic attack tonight,” “I’ll binge eat,” “something must be wrong”).

Fortune Telling: Predicting negative outcomes without solid evidence (e.g., “meetings will drain me,” “I’ll never be able to control my eating”).

All-or-Nothing Thinking: Success/failure dichotomies (“I lost control last night, therefore I’ll never lose weight”).

Mental Filtering: Highlighting negative aspects (noise, fatigue, overstimulation) while overlooking positive or neutral elements.

Should Statements: Implied self-criticism (“I should be able to relax,” “I should control this better”).

Emotional Reasoning: “Because I feel anxious, something must actually be wrong.”

3. Things You Might Be Missing

Positive Data Logs

You often analyze negative predictions vs. outcomes, but less focus is placed on cataloging small wins (e.g., when exposures worked, when you resisted urges, when meetings weren’t draining).

Building a “bank of evidence” could counterbalance negative bias more effectively.

Nuance in Triggers

You identify stressors (noise, overstimulation, hunger, fatigue), but you don’t always explore patterns systematically (time of day, physical state, environment).

A structured log (time → trigger → thought → response → outcome) could clarify which conditions reliably set you off.

Self-Compassion

Many reframes are logical, but compassionate self-talk is less present (“It makes sense I feel anxious, given my stress load”).

Shifting from judgment (“I lost control”) to understanding (“my body responded to under-eating”) might reduce shame loops.

Values & Enjoyment

A lot of journaling focuses on reducing distress, but less emphasis is put on identifying and pursuing what brings joy, meaning, or purpose (beyond symptom reduction).

That could help balance your framework from purely defensive (“prevent panic, prevent binge”) to proactive (“build evenings I look forward to”).

✅ Summary:

Your journaling shows strong CBT skills—challenging thoughts, running experiments, and looking for evidence. The recurring traps are catastrophizing, fortune telling, and emotional reasoning, often triggered by overstimulation, fatigue, or anticipatory anxiety. What seems underdeveloped is self-compassion, structured positive evidence tracking, and value-driven actions that add meaning and enjoyment.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5763147&forum_id=2E#49190820)