Confronting Your A nx iety 73
front of your peers because you imagined it would be
unpleasant, that’s anxious avoidance! It’s an intuitive and
self- reinforcing behavioral tendency that most people
exhibit at some point in their lives; for others, it’s chronic.
In the short term, avoiding unpleasant experiences
makes you feel less anxious because you were able to avoid
situations you feared. It can be a helpful and adaptive process!
Nevertheless, it’s not possible (or appropriate) to avoid all
the unpleasant experiences in life. Indeed, the more you
avoid, the more your anxiety builds up in the presence of
whatever it is you have been avoiding. W hen used excessively
or inappropriately, avoidance thus becomes problematic.
Anxious avoidance manifests in many ways and to
varying degrees. Following are some common avoidance
strategies:
- Intentional avoidance (for example, driving on
back roads instead of the highway or refusing to
attend parties or other social engagements out of
fear of being judged or evaluated) - Escaping from anxiety- producing situations (for
example, leaving a crowded store or market to
avoid feeling panicked) - Using safety behaviors (for example, carrying
calming medications with you or insisting that a
friend or family member accompany you
throughout the day) - Using distractions (for example, listening to
music while having a tooth drilled, or instructing
a child to look at a cartoon on the wall while he or
she receives an immunization)