How understanding anxiety processes helps me!
Hello all.
Much of my postgraduate psychology education has been about understanding human cognition and what happens when we don't feel ourselves. One of these things is understanding the anxiety process. In fact, a great deal of evidence suggests that even being aware of the cognitive model of anxiety can provide resilience against anxiety.
Obviously, this is not to take place in seeing a mental health professional. But being educated about how we feel and how it is perpetuated is important :). Therefore, I would recommend looking up the cognitive behavioural model of anxiety and watching a few videos on it. Simply being aware of what we are feeling is a great step in understanding the complexity of ourselves.
Please take care and remember, you are not alone!
Comments
I'm very interested in this @Boxmore 🙂
I have found psychoeducation to help me a great deal in the past, so this is right up my alley!
Hi @Boxmore
Thanks for sharing this post, I'm interested in watching those videos on it! I definitely agree that being educated and aware of how anxiety processes work leads to better outcomes in overcoming anxiety. I'm curious to know, how do you think it has helped you?
Thanks for the comment @Blueberry_Kudu
Great question :). For me, I find being aware of the "cycle of anxiety" makes it easier for me to break it before it begins. Here is an example.
Naturally, study and exam stress is a common occurrence for me. Let's say exams are coming up. I began to feel anxious, nervous, and a weight on my chest. Now anxiety perpetuates when you start to assign those feelings to a situation/topic/person and actively avoid it.
Being aware of this, I don't try to shy away from these feelings when I begin to feel them. I usually go out for a walk and actively reflect on them. Perhaps i'll consider why am i so nervous??, am i underprepared for my exam on cognition??, Is it maybe I am working too much and not letting my body recover?
Thereby my behaviour directly breaks the cycle, as I am directly acknowledging the source and doing something about it. Alternatively, if I ignore them, I would start doing possibly detrimental behaviours that would have short-term relief (e.g. not studying) but in the long term increase worrying (e.g. I haven't studied, I am gonna fail!!!).
This is a really simplified version. Reality is never this simple. However, compared to my high school anxiety levels, I would say this is why I am far better than I was previously.
Hope this makes sense! Here is a video!
Hi @Boxmore
Wow thank you for showing me that video! I really resonate with it, especially the part on avoidance. It's cool to understand anxiety in different ways and how it can affect you in the long term if you continue to avoid things. Even I find it hard to break out of that cycle and to face your fears but I am working on it slowly.
It's so true that being aware of how you speak to yourself can go a long way in treating anxiety. Again, thank you for this awesome post, I'd love to see more posts like this in the future!
