Bad Luck

This week, it occurred to me that from a very young age we hear phrases that induce fear, often stemming from old myths and superstitions that have been around for hundreds of years.

Most of us can probably recall sayings such as:

• If you break a mirror, you'll have seven years of bad luck.

• Don't put an umbrella up indoors.

• Salute or say a rhyme when you see a magpie.

• Don't cross someone on the stairs.

Some of these sayings may have originated from genuine safety concerns, such as navigating narrow staircases, while others are rooted in folklore and superstition. Whatever their origins, we tend to believe these tales as children. Much like Santa Claus or the Tooth Fairy, we believe in the magic.

The difference is that, instead of awe and wonder, these beliefs are often rooted in fear.

What struck me is how closely these superstitions resemble the cognitive-behavioural model of anxiety. Most Cognitive Behavioural Therapy models include a situation, thoughts, feelings, behaviours and an appraisal of the outcome. These old sayings often contain all those elements in one neat package.

Situation: Seeing three drains in a row on the pavement

Thought: "If I walk over them, something terrible will happen."

Feeling: worry, dread, anxiety

Behaviour: Avoid the drains, perhaps with a polite nod to others as you step around them, because there seems to be a shared understanding that walking over them invites disaster.

Appraisal: "Thank goodness I avoided them. Everything will be okay."

If, for some reason, we do walk over the drains and something unfortunate happens later that day, we may be tempted to connect the two events. The superstition is reinforced and the cycle continues.

Many of these sayings resonate with patterns we often see in OCD. After all, they frequently involve intrusive thoughts, predictions of harm and rituals designed to prevent something bad from happening. Could these superstitions serve as an early introduction to these patterns of thinking? Perhaps. While they certainly don't cause OCD, they may familiarise us with the idea that our actions can prevent unrelated misfortunes from occurring.

For some people, these beliefs are harmless quirks. For others, they may reinforce the uncomfortable feeling that they are responsible for preventing bad things from happening.

Life is full of unpredictable, frustrating and sometimes deeply upsetting events. Many are entirely outside of our control and are the result of chance, biology and circumstance. Yet the moment we begin to believe that a tragedy occurred because of a broken mirror in 2022, or because someone opened an umbrella indoors, we start heading down a slippery slope.

Why do we feel the need to pass these sayings on? And perhaps more importantly - at what point do we tell our children/ourselves they aren't true?

I've had this debate with my own children. They inform me, with complete certainty, that they heard it from someone much older and wiser than me, so it must be true that putting a brolly up indoors brings bad luck. But a child's mind can easily conclude that they are somehow responsible for misfortune if they were the one who broke the rule.

Perhaps that's the real problem with superstition; it encourages us to take responsibility for events we could never have controlled in the first place.

So next time you see three drains in a row on your walk, try walking straight over them.

I dare you.