Confronting Your A nx iety 85
a summer barbecue with your friends and you suddenly have
a panic attack, confronting your anxious thoughts, emo-
tions, and physiological feelings is inherently more adaptive
than f leeing from your discomfort to a place of “safety.” You
are more likely to use passive coping—that is, to freeze—
when escape from a threat seems impossible. For example, if
a bee is chasing you in your backyard, you might be inclined
to confront it by swatting at it, or perhaps you’re able to run
inside your house and close the door before the bee stings
you. But if escape from the threat of the bee seems impossi-
ble, such as if it were to land on your arm, you might freeze
in the hope it won’t sting you. In general, using more active-
oriented coping approaches paired with positive reinforce-
ments is a useful way to manage your anxiety. Active and
adaptive coping is what helps you confront and work through
your fears rather than remaining anxious, stressed, or even
depressed (LeDoux and Gorman 2001).
Overcoming Avoidance
By now, it should be no surprise that to modify your anxiety,
you have to modify your behavior and confront your anxiety.
But you might be wondering how to do this, especially if
your anxious avoidance is a deeply ingrained and habitual
response to your anxiety. To that end, you need a deeper
understanding of when and why avoidance is problematic.
First of all, avoidance of anxiety- producing stimuli
enhances your sense of a loss of control, which in turn dimin-
ishes your brain’s ability to think logically and rationally
(Arnsten 2009). In practical terms, this means that you tend
to rely on automatic instincts when faced with a perceived