Therapy can’t fix this, bit it can help OP with it. A good therapist will help you find more effective strategies to help you cope with a situation you can’t personally change.

Yes, actually! Uneven heat is the culprit. See my reply above about cast iron failure on induction. Very thin carbon steel pans can warp for similar reasons, and I would assume the same for large, empty aluminum pans on very high heat (though I haven’t seen that reported. The solution in both cases is to start on a lower setting and raise the temperature gradually.

The warping may be why thin, round-bottomed carbon steel woks are easy to find but the same doesn’t seem to be true of flat-bottomed frying pans.

I keep hearing this, and had the pleasure of using someone else’s large, lightweight carbon steel pan for a while - it was a dream! Then I went to buy one, and all the new ones I can find are shockingly thick and heavy by comparison. I love my carbon steel wok, but just can’t seem to find frying pans anywhere near as thin and light.

Any suggestions? Preferably in Europe. Stretch goal: welded rather than riveted handle. I have family members who aren’t comfortable with my level of clean-up, and crust at the edge of the rivets seems to be a sore point.

Cast iron is great for induction IF you know how to use them together. To avoid cracking your pan, start the stove on a lower setting, let the pan heat, then raise higher if you need it.

The issue is thermal expansion. Induction cooktops can heat the pan faster than gas or thermoelectric, but only where the coil is (no heat passing up the outside of the sides). Cast iron conducts this heat relatively slowly, so the bottom of the pan heats and expands slightly while the sides (or parts of the bottom not directly over the coil) take longer to do the same. The thickness of most cast iron can exacerbate the issue, as even the top surface is expanding more slowly that the bottom bear the coil.

Cast iron is harder (more rigid) and also more brittle than carbon or stainless steel, so this can lead to microfractures that grow larger over repeated cycles.

As long as you know to raise the heat slowly, they’re a great combination. Hard learned lesson for me though - lost an antique 15" that was my main daily driver