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Anxiety is coming out of the closet, openly discussed and acknowledged by celebrities like Oprah, Lady Gaga, Steven Colbert, and a long list of other famous people. Almost every week, you can read a “me also” admission from someone you think shouldn’t suffer from this emotion. Surprisingly, an increased awareness of the effects of anxiety has done little to reduce its prevalence.
According to the National Institute of Health, 20 percent of adults suffer from anxiety, and the figure keeps rising. That translates to more than 40 million adults in the United States. Big numbers for an emotion whose effects we often minimize.
What is Anxiety?
Anxiety, according to the American Psychological Association, is “an emotion characterized by feelings of tension, worried thoughts, and physical changes like increased blood pressure.” Although it is one of the most common conditions that should benefit from intervention, psychologists report that it is undertreated because of efficacy, cost, lack of personnel, or social acceptance. While traditional therapy for anxiety should not be abandoned—it is effective for many—it may be time to try a new approach, one based on neuroscience.
Neuroscience has taught us that an emotionally significant event in the present can trigger other similar memories, especially if it is negative. PTSD is one extreme example. While the retrieved memories may not accurately reflect the events, they bring to your consciousness the emotions you felt when the event was experienced.
How the Brain Is Wired to Create Anxiety and Negativity
Our brains largely determine how we structure and react to the world. Psychologists might insist that everything we do is based on the brain’s workings, from knowing not to put fingers into a flame to the love we feel for a new puppy.
Some evolutionary biologists argue that the brain’s creation of anxiety had a survival value when velociraptors contemplated making our ancestors lunch. Their anxiety resulted from information stored as memories (human-eating animals hide in bushes) and speculation of the future (a human-eating animal may be hiding in the shaking bush in front of me).
Although anxiety may have lost much of its survival value, the brain still regurgitates negative memories as if dinosaurs lurk behind skyscrapers. For example, you may become anxious when a disreputable candidate gains momentum because of what they did in the past (stored information) coupled with speculation about what they might do if elected (unknown information). Connecting a present negative situation with similar negative ones you stored, and ones you anticipate often leads to anxiety and, in some severe cases, depression.
If your traditional therapy hasn’t worked, you can’t find a competent professional, or you don’t have the money for counseling, here are three strategies you can immediately use to reduce your anxiety. Each is designed to break the bond between the present and past negative memories.
Three Behavioral Strategies
What are behavioral strategies? Simply ways of affecting change, attitudes or behaviors, by understanding how the brain works.
Prioritizing. In A Year to Live, Steven Levine asks readers to prioritize their behaviors for one year if they knew it was their last. The brain loves this type of activity—even if the heart finds it uncomfortable—since it involves categorizing, a primary part of efficient and unemotional thinking.
I’ve asked clients to do this exercise but changed the timeframe to 24 hours. After resisting, they were amazed at how their attitudes changed. Given a time constraint, they realized what they thought was important was irrelevant. No one ever listed “work” or “fretting” as a priority. Most lists contained only specific behaviors that “made a difference” to them or someone close.
Do Three Positive Things Every Day. Many people do not realize that when the brain engages in one significant negative thought, it establishes connections with other negative thoughts. As negative thoughts make connections and accumulate, anxiety may develop. It is possible to break the synaptic connections by doing something positive that gives you great pleasure.
Playing a musical instrument, sculpting, writing, cooking, and basically, anything you find pleasurable. Three is an arbitrary number I’ve used successfully with clients, but choose whatever is doable. You may not be able to eliminate anxiety, but you can dull its effects.
Simulations. Simulations are creations of situations that closely correspond to reality. For example, if you fear that you will eventually lose your sight, create a situation in which you will experience what it is like not to see. Put on a blindfold in your house for an hour, either alone or with someone who can protect you. With repeated simulations, the memory of what it felt like to be blind gets stored in your brain, and when your vision fails, the emotional impact of the change will be less than if you had not prepared for blindness. I have routinely used this activity with clients who are beginning to experience dementia.
The Takeaway
We can’t control all aspects of our lives that create anxiety. Cancer may develop even if your foods are organic. Partners may leave after you do everything to please them. Jobs may be lost to China despite your commitment to the company. Your favorite candidate may lose even though you donated money and knocked on doors. These and other situations can create anxiety if we ignore the brain’s hardwiring. However, anxiety can be reduced by using three behavioral strategies: prioritization, engaging in positive activities, and simulations.