Resolving The Anxiety Dilemma: Conclusion
We are walking along our path in life. The ground ahead is firm and dry. The sky above is cloudless. Things are going smoothly as we put one foot in front of the other. But we see it when we round the corner: a swamp of anxiety in the middle of our pathway. Our strong inclination […]
Management (M)
Managing something and mastering something are two different things. In the three steps above, we have not been trying to manage anxiety, or directly influence its length, strength, and frequency. Instead, we have been mastering how we live in the face of it. At the same time, no solution to any problem is black and white. Sure, a healthy […]
Letting Go (L)
Imagine playing catch near a swampy body of water. When the ball inevitably lands in muck, someone has to retrieve it. There are two ways to handle this task. We can plod through the swamp in a steadfast manner, grab the ball, and plod back. Alternatively, we can gingerly walk in a hesitant fashion, flinching […]
Attentional Control (A)
Recall that an anxious mind is biased toward scanning the world for threats. Our brain searches for tigers more than fences, flowers, and coffee cups. Once a threat is identified, two things tend to happen: perseveration and elaboration. Perseveration involves thinking about something over and over again. For example, we may spend hours asking ourselves, “What if I lose […]
Courage (C)
“Courage.” The word is familiar, but often misused. Images of gallant knights come to mind, laughing fearlessly as they gallop into battle. Yet soldiers and first responders know that courage is not the absence of fear. It is the act doing what needs to be done when we are in fear’s presence. Experts of various […]
Resolving The Anxiety Dilemma: An Overview
Most anxiety problems, we’ve explored, are really avoidance problems. The dilemma isn’t that we’re anxious. It’s that we excessively avoid anxiety . . . and this avoidance keeps us anxious and disrupts our lives. Fortunately, cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) provides a way to overcome this issue. It might take a month. It might take a year. But within a finite period of […]
Cost #3: Avoidance Disrupts Effective Behavior
No one likes feeling anxious. And no one enjoys worrying for hours on end. Yet the biggest cost of avoidance is not the way it keeps us anxious or maintains our symptoms. The biggest cost of avoidance is how it impacts effectiveness. Many people believe that anxiety affects performance. And excessive anxiety can, to a limited […]
Cost #2: Avoidance Creates and Maintains Our Symptoms
Avoidance creates and maintains the symptoms of anxiety disorders. People with OCD, for example, often check and recheck to ensure a task is complete. Studies show this checking is an active form of avoidance, with each check followed by brief anxiety reduction (“phew!”). This is the case for most anxiety symptoms. When we worry excessively, seek […]
Cost #1: Avoidance Keeps Us Anxious
It is one of life’s great ironies. We go to tremendous lengths to avoid anxiety. Yet the things we do to avoid anxiety actually keep us anxious. Say we measure our average anxiety on a scale from 1 to 10. Over time, why does anxiety remain at 7 or 8 instead of dropping to 3 […]
The Costs of Avoidance
Quitting smoking is tough and people don’t do it for fun. They quit because smoking has costs. In the same way, it takes hard work to resolve the problems caused by chronic avoidance. It is very possible and important. But it can be hard. So before we work on resolving our dilemma, it helps to […]