How to Cope With a Sense of Foreshortened Future

A sense of foreshortened future involves feeling as if life will be cut short without any real explanation as to why. People who experience this may also feel they won't be able to reach milestones in their life, such as a career, marriage, or children.  

This sense of foreshortened future is a reaction that can occur following trauma. It is considered an avoidance symptom of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) related to negative expectations about the future.

This article discusses the symptoms and causes of a sense of foreshortened future. It also covers coping with this symptom and when you should seek help from a professional.

Symptoms Related to a Sense of Foreshortened Future

A sense of a foreshortened future is characterized by the following:

• An inability to think about or plan for the future
• Changes in how a person perceives the passage of time
• Difficulty trusting that other people will be around in the future
• Distrust of others and the world in general
• Experiencing narrative foreclosure, or the feeling that life is over
• Feeling that the world is unpredictable
• Losing motivation to pursue projects or stick to commitments
• Negative views about the future
• The sense that death is imminent

A sense of a foreshortened future can vary in terms of severity. Some people may have just a mild sense that their life will be cut short, whereas others may have a specific prediction regarding the length of their lifespan and are wholly convinced of their premature death. This symptom can be challenging to cope with and may lead to isolation, hopelessness, helplessness, and depression.

Causes of the Sense of Foreshortened Future

A sense of a foreshortened future emerges as a response to trauma. It most often stems from childhood trauma but also happens following other upheavals, including:

• Acute traumas that involve near-death or the death of a loved one
• Growing up with a narcissistic or borderline parent may contribute to children internalizing negative attitudes about themselves and their future
• Long-term abuse or neglect during childhood
  

This symptom may emerge in situations where people are led to doubt their ability to function, cope, or succeed. When people are made to feel worthless, unsupported, undeserving, and incapable of finding happiness, they may struggle to envision a future for themselves.

Research has also found that people tend to recall past memories in a more general way that lacks specificity and detail. Because being able to recall specific memories is important for visualizing the future, this overgeneralized autobiographical memory may play a role in the sense of a foreshortened future.

Coping With a Sense of a Foreshortened Future

You can take steps to reduce the severity of this symptom. Below are several potential coping strategies.

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Be Mindful of Your Thoughts

Believing that your life will be cut short following a traumatic event makes sense. You may have feared for your life or even come close to death as a result of your traumatic event. Furthermore, following a traumatic event, our assumptions about the world as a safe and secure place are shattered.

People are forced to come to terms with their own mortality. As a result, the belief that your life will be cut short likely feels very true. However, there is really no way to determine your lifespan. Consequently, it can be helpful to be mindful of those thoughts about your premature death.

Seek Positive Activities

A sense of a foreshortened future can increase the risk of depression. Therefore, it is important to identify and improve the extent to which you participate in positive activities. Engaging in activities you used to enjoy before the traumatic event may be particularly useful.

You may not notice an immediate change in your emotions or thoughts. That is normal. Keep at it. Being more active, especially in positive activities, will eventually improve your mood and can prevent depression.

Pay Attention to Your Choices 

People often make choices based on their emotions. Anxiety may tell you to avoid something. Sadness may tell you to isolate. Anger may tell you to retaliate.

Although listening to your emotions is important, they may not always lead you down the best path. Instead, it is vital to think about what kind of life you want to live and make choices that are based on that idea.

For example, if you want to live a life of compassion and caring, make choices each and every day to engage in behavior that is consistent with those values. Doing so will create a sense of agency and purpose and increase the feeling that you are living a fulfilling life.

Connect With Others 

A sense of a foreshortened future can cause people to isolate themselves from others. Given this, the best thing you can do to counter this is to connect with others and establish social support. The more meaningful relationships you have in your life, the more fulfilling your life may begin to feel.

Reduce Avoidance 

Following a traumatic event, it is very natural to avoid certain activities or places. The problem with avoidance is that it often leads to more avoidance. When you avoid something, you are delivering the message to your brain that a situation is not safe.

Therefore, it can be essential to take steps to approach situations or activities that you want to avoid. Of course, you don't want to approach situations that may be objectively unsafe (like running alone in a park at night, for example). You do, however, want to engage in activities that you used to feel comfortable doing before the traumatic event occurred.

This practice can be difficult, as you may experience anxiety and fear, but these feelings will eventually dissipate. When you start this process, bringing along a trusted and supportive friend may be helpful.

Practice Self-Care

Another way to combat the sense of a foreshortened future is to engage in behaviors and activities that are about valuing your life. Schedule time to pamper yourself or engage in self-soothing and compassionate activities. Exercise. Eat well. Taking care of yourself can have a tremendous impact on your emotions and thoughts.

When to Get Help

Many of the coping strategies listed above are easier said than done. Be patient and take your time. Reward yourself for any small amount of progress that you make in reducing your sense of a foreshortened future.

By reducing your symptoms of PTSD in general, you will likely notice that your sense of foreshortened future also reduces in intensity. A therapist can also provide you with support as you use the coping skills described above.

There are a number of effective treatments for PTSD. Medications may be prescribed to help treat symptoms related to anxiety, mood, eating, and sleep. Different types of psychotherapy can also be helpful, including cognitive processing therapy (CPT), exposure therapy, group therapy, and eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy.

You might start your search by asking your healthcare provider to refer you to a therapist, checking with your insurance provider for a directory of in-network mental health professionals, or by searching an online directory to help you find appropriate mental health providers in your area.

Final Thoughts

Trauma affects the mind in many ways, including how people think and feel about the future. When the world feels unsafe, unpredictable, and untrustworthy, you might think that there is little point in making plans for events that you don't expect to happen. If the future feels intangible, consider talking to a therapist. They can offer help, support, and treatments that can help you change how you think and make plans to support your goals.