{"id":74843,"date":"2022-08-04T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-08-04T19:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=74843"},"modified":"2022-08-10T12:42:02","modified_gmt":"2022-08-10T16:42:02","slug":"how-to-break-the-cycle-of-anxiety","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/how-to-break-the-cycle-of-anxiety\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Break the Cycle of Anxiety in 3 Steps"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Are you wondering how to break the cycle of anxiety? How does anxiety lead to other problems?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Unwinding Anxiety<\/em>, Dr. Judson Brewer gives practical advice for dealing with anxiety. Brewer\u2019s guidelines for overcoming anxiety<\/a> are based on his definition of anxiety as a habit loop<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let’s look at how to break the cycle of anxiety in three steps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Breaking the Cycle<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Once we understand how anxiety functions as a behavioral cycle, we can see that the solution to anxiety is breaking the cycle that creates and reinforces it<\/strong>. Brewer says learning how to break the cycle of anxiety requires three steps:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Recognize your anxious patterns<\/strong> as they arise.<\/li>
  2. Pay close attention to your behaviors and their results<\/strong> so that you can determine whether any given behavior truly helps your situation.<\/li>
  3. When you notice unhelpful behaviors, replace them<\/strong> with more useful and rewarding ones. <\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Be aware that these steps aren\u2019t strictly linear. When you\u2019re first learning to work with anxiety, you\u2019ll need to take them in order because each step builds on the one before it: You can\u2019t deconstruct a behavior loop (step 2) that you haven\u2019t even noticed (step 1), and you can\u2019t replace behaviors (step 3) until you\u2019ve determined whether they need to be replaced (step 2). But because behavior change is an ongoing practice, you\u2019re never really \u201cdone\u201d with this process<\/strong>, and it\u2019s completely normal (and necessary) to move back and forth between the steps. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Step #1: Recognize Your Anxious Patterns<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    You can\u2019t solve a problem you haven\u2019t noticed yet, so the first step to treating anxiety is to recognize the behavioral and thinking loops that create and result from anxiety. To do so, Brewer says, you need to practice<\/strong> mindfulness<\/a><\/em> so that you\u2019re more aware of your thoughts and actions<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Brewer borrows his definition of mindfulness from mindfulness proponent Jon Kabat-Zinn, who says that<\/a> mindfulness means: \u201cPaying attention, on purpose, in the present moment, non-judgementally\u201d [sic]. Brewer distills this definition down to two components: awareness and curiosity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Step #2: Analyze Your Behaviors and Their Results<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Brewer says that one of the benefits of treating anxiety as a habit is that doing so allows us to analyze the <\/strong>rewards <\/em><\/strong>of our anxious behavior<\/strong>. In a habit loop, a reward is any result that reinforces the behavior. For example, if you feel anxious and eat some potato chips, you enjoy a salty snack, your body enjoys a dopamine hit as it processes the carbohydrates, and your mind (possibly) enjoys a brief respite from whatever caused the anxiety. These short-term rewards are part of the reason we get addicted to anxiety<\/strong> even though it has numerous long-term consequences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Brewer argues that a key step in breaking the anxiety habit<\/a> is changing the value we place on anxiety\u2019s rewards. He suggests that if we recognize that these short-term benefits aren\u2019t actually that fulfilling, we\u2019ll be less apt to continue thinking and behaving anxiously<\/strong>. Then, if we substitute non-anxious behaviors that offer better rewards, we\u2019ll learn to choose those behaviors over anxious ones. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Updating Your Reward Value<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

    According to Brewer, the trick to seeing that anxiety is unrewarding is to realize that our brains often overestimate the value of anxiety-related rewards. In other words, he claims that if you pay close enough attention, you\u2019ll notice that potato chips don\u2019t taste that <\/em>good and that generally, the more of them you eat, the less you enjoy them and the worse you feel. The problem is that the brain takes a lot of factors into account when assessing reward value, and some of these factors aren\u2019t directly relevant to the <\/strong>actual<\/em><\/strong> quality of the reward<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    For example, if you enjoy looking at Instagram posts, your brain\u2019s Instagram reward calculation might take into account Instagram\u2019s informational and entertainment values, as you\u2019d expect. But it\u2019s also taking into account:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    • Your emotional associations with your friends and family who post on Instagram.<\/li>
    • Your attachment to other things you care about (and follow on Instagram)\u2014hobbies, sports teams, world events, and so on.<\/li>
    • Any stake you might have in people seeing and liking your <\/em>posts.<\/li>
    • All previous instances of browsing Instagram to assuage anxious feelings.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      This means that when your brain is weighing whether to open Instagram (or to keep browsing for a few more minutes), it\u2019s assessing a lot more than just the enjoyableness of the experience itself. If you don\u2019t realize that, you might find yourself using the app when you didn\u2019t really mean to or continuing to scroll even though you\u2019re bored with the posts. The problem here is that your brain set a relatively high reward value for Instagram and then never bothered to reassess that value.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      On the other hand, <\/strong>Brewer says, if you\u2019re mindful, you can figure out how rewarding your behaviors <\/strong>actually <\/em><\/strong>are<\/strong>. For example, if you find yourself scrolling through Instagram when you\u2019re anxious, simply pay attention to what that\u2019s like. How much do you enjoy the posts? Are you really <\/em>interested in peoples\u2019 updates? And when you\u2019re done, do you feel more or less anxious than before? Do you feel guilty for having spent your time this way? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      In many cases, you might find that anxiety-driven behaviors (such as procrastination via social media, problem eating, substance use, and so on) aren\u2019t actually very rewarding in their own right. When you look at the behavior itself and notice how it makes you feel moment by moment, you might find that you don\u2019t even like it very much, or that you like it in much smaller doses than you thought. Realizing this makes it much easier to change unwanted behaviors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Step #3: Use Better Rewards to Change Behaviors For Good<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

      Brewer says that once you\u2019ve recognized a behavior loop and mindfully assessed its reward value, the key to changing the behavior is replacing it with something more rewarding. He argues that mindfulness is, in itself, an ideal replacement behavior<\/strong> for three reasons:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      First, it\u2019s always available<\/strong>. You can be mindful regardless of your circumstances, location, or resources. You don\u2019t need any particular item, substance, or environment to practice mindfulness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Second, it\u2019s inherently rewarding<\/strong>\u2014more so than whatever behavior you might be trying to change. Brewer says that mindfulness feels good in its own right and that it promotes other positive feelings such as openness, creativity, and joy that are also rewarding. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      Furthermore, unlike the behaviors it replaces, mindfulness\u2019s reward value never fades. For instance, the first time you drink when you\u2019re anxious, the alcohol might actually do a decent job of making you feel relaxed. But over time, not only will you need to drink more to get the same effect, but intoxication itself will become less rewarding as its novelty wears off. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Are you wondering how to break the cycle of anxiety? How does anxiety lead to other problems? In Unwinding Anxiety, Dr. Judson Brewer gives practical advice for dealing with anxiety. Brewer\u2019s guidelines for overcoming anxiety are based on his definition of anxiety as a habit loop. Let’s look at how to break the cycle of anxiety in three steps.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":556,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,42,9],"tags":[709],"class_list":["post-74843","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health","category-motivation","category-psychology","tag-unwinding-anxiety","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\nHow to Break the Cycle of Anxiety in 3 Steps - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Because anxiety can lead to other bad behaviors, you can get stuck in an anxious loop. 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