Emotional Avoidance 183
notice that you are escaping some situation in which you feel
anxious and will continue to believe some underlying threat
is present. This means that, in the future, your brain will
repeat this response tendency by turning on your internal
alarm clock and using fear to persuade you to avoid the situ-
ation. It doesn’t matter whether the danger is illusory or real:
avoidance teaches your brain to act as if it were real.
So, why not eliminate avoidance? That seems simple
enough in theory, but in practice it can be tricky, because
avoidance offers short- term relief. It feels good to remove
yourself from the prospect of delivering a speech in front of
a large crowd or to avoid a nasty- looking spider by crossing
the street. Avoidance can be seductive, but it’s rarely a per-
manent solution. The long- term effects of avoidance are
negative, because it prevents you from learning information
about your environment that would discredit your negative
beliefs. To change your response to anxiety- provoking situ-
ations, you will have to change your reliance on avoidance.
Being Safe vs. Being in the
Present Moment
Avoidance isn’t always as conspicuous as you might think.
There are obvious examples of avoidance, such as f leeing a
room filled with people or refusing to enter a crowded
subway car, but there are also more subtle types of avoid-
ance. For example, you might refrain from maintaining eye
contact while talking to someone new at a party. Such ways
of gaining relief or avoiding facing the situation head- on are
known as “safety behaviors” or “avoidance strategies.” They
may lessen your initial anxiety, but they are just as bad as the