Linking A nxiety, Emotion, and Mindfulness 25
The Link Between Anxiety and Emotion
In any situation, the emergence of anxiety is preceded by
thoughts and beliefs about the situation. In other words, it’s
your determination that a threat exists that leads you to feel
a n x iet y.
Imagine that you are about to give a speech. Casting
your gaze over the audience, you realize that there could be
a social cost if you perform poorly. In other words, the fact
that you might fail to meet listeners’ expectations gives you
concern over how you might appear and a fear of negative
evaluation. Yet this is only one possible way for you to
appraise the situation. Another would be to regard the
speech as an enjoyable opportunity to give a performance.
That appraisal would likely give rise to far less anxiety. Thus,
it’s the appraisal of a potential threat that feeds the emer-
gence of full- blown anxiety.
If you perceive giving a speech to be a threatening situa-
tion, a series of physical and subjective feelings will ensue.
These particular sensations are what people associate most
often with anxiety, as they can cause significant discomfort
and distress. Anxious emotions bring about rapid heartbeat,
constricted breathing, sweating, and general physiological
arousal. These symptoms exacerbate subjective feelings of
apprehension and dread. As mentioned before, in these situ-
ations the f light- or- fight response can become active, which
prompts behaviors meant to help you either avoid danger or
fend it off. You might feel inclined to adopt various safety
behaviors. Such behaviors involve attempts to temporarily
dampen feelings of anxiety by avoiding whatever seems
threatening. Continuing with the example of giving a
speech, looking only at your notes throughout the speech