Seery also asked participants what they had been thinking during the pain. Those who had experienced the least adversity were more likely to think things like I kept wishing that it would be over. I thought that the pain might overwhelm me. I felt that I couldn’t stand it. I couldn’t stop thinking about how much it hurt. This kind of thinking — what psychologists call catastrophizing — not only makes a difficult experience more distressing, but it also makes you more likely to give up. In this study, catastrophic thinking explained the relationship between a person’s past adversity and his or her ability to tolerate pain. Going through something difficult makes you less likely to catastrophize, and that gives you greater strength.
— The Upside of Stress (Kelly McGonigal), Loc. 2886–91