Push through your fear. Each time you jump backwards, curl into a little ball and cling to the bedpost, peel yourself away again and put on a sock, tie a shoe, take one more step toward the door. If this works it'll desensitize you.
From what I read, it seems that the first step in applying desensitization therapy is to master some kind of relaxation technique. Then you put yourself in a (possibly artificial) situations that cause a manageable level of fear and apply the technique until the fear goes away. Maybe simply clenching your teeth and pushing through the fear works too but I suspect it doesn't count as desensitization in the sense that the word is used in psychotherapy.
I expect the desensitization effect comes from doing frightening things with no consequences that reinforce the fear, and the relaxation and milder situation serve to make that feasible.
The cognitive distortion is called "catastrophizing", I think.
I'm afraid of unexpected, strongly negative events occurring to me without warning. Nothing specific, just a generalized fear. That fear is crippling me. Worse, there's a part of me that feels that fear is keeping me safe. "If I let go of that fear," it goes, "I would start doing things and then I wouldn't be safe any more."
I haven't filled out a job application in over a week, because doing so would force me out into the world if i got an interview, and into the world consistently if I got the job.