sabrinacasale_therapy :
Hiii! 🩷 Therapist here, just some insight if anyone cares or relates, this is called catastrophic rumination. Your brains primary job is to keep you alive and safe, which means it is constantly scanning for threats. At night, when the day’s distractions slow down/fade and everything becomes quiet, your brain may shift from "problem-solving mode" to "threat-detection mode." When you imagine something horrible happening to a loved one, your brain is essentially running a "worst-case scenario simulation." It is an extreme (maladaptive) attempt to make sure you are prepared for danger, even if that danger doesn't exist. Sometimes this can spike if you feel really out of control in areas of your life, your brain runs risk assessments as a way to try and feel in control. Also, for those of us who naturally have a higher degree of empathy and responsibility (being a care-taker, the family fixer, rescuer) your “alarm system" in the brain is often more sensitive and your nervous system may have trouble "downshifting" at night. When your body stays in a state of high arousal (even if you feel mentally tired), the brain interprets that internal tension as an external threat. It then searches for a reason for that tension, unfortunately landing on the people you care about most 😅 your logic center of your brain is also exhausted by the end of the day, so it’s less likely to kick in. I could go on and on about this but the bottom line, these images/scenarios you experience are often vivid because they are fueled by attachment. The intensity of the grief you feel in those moments is a direct reflection of the depth of your love. Your brain is essentially projecting the "cost" of losing them. ALSO, crying is a biological release of tension. When you experience these intrusive images, your body experiences a spike in cortisol and adrenaline. The crying is your body’s way of attempting to regulate your nervous system and process that intense, ‘phantom’ stress. ✨So sorry for the novel, feel free to follow me and my page!! I love nerding out like this 🩷🙂
2026-06-27 01:44:24