Dismissive people

I wonder if some of what you are saying relates to the differences in the way the "typical" man or woman processes information and reacts to it.

I hate to over-generalize, but I'm going to do it anyway.

In my experience, men tend to be less empathetic than women. I know I am. A man's immediate response is more likely to be an attempt to solve a problem than an attempt to be "reassuring". We're not intending to be dismissive; our innate focus is simply on other things. So, If I appear to be trying to "solve" the problem rather than be "reassuring", maybe it's because there is something deep in my left-brained nature that simply won't shut up.

One of the challenges with anxiety is that the anxious person sees things differently than a more distant observer does. Could it be that your father (or "Mr. Kat") doesn't see the things that are making you anxious in the same way that you do? Maybe their initial attempt at dealing with the issue comes across as "Oh, don't worry about that", which certainly sounds dismissive. Perhaps what they mean by it is more like "In my opinion, that thing you are anxious about seems really unlikely to come to pass". It might even be their attempt to be reassuring, but it's said in a way that comes across as dismissive.

I suggest this because I've been told more than once that I do this exact thing, pretty much exclusively by women and I wouldn't be all that surprised if one tells me that again, very soon.