What You Should know about anticipatory anxiety

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Apr 19, 2022

✨POV✨: We can't seem to stop stressing before an event, and neither does the stress stop after. Where is this fear coming from and can we ever overcome it?

It's one thing to feel fleeting anxiety, say for example, before an exam or presentation but it's a whole other experience to feel it at max debilitating levels.

This is usually called anticipatory anxiety since it doesn't matter what the event or situation is - it can even be an unwarranted response to the uncertainties the day brings.

You may spend days or weeks on end constantly worrying about how the anxiety-inducing event would go. You overthink every scenario and draw (false) conclusions.

You believe what your anxiety says and then form behavior patterns to cope with it.

Except that sometimes, these behavior patterns may not be the healthiest for us.

This is why for some, anticipatory anxiety causes them to avoid certain situations or why the thought of a certain event causes stomach upsets or headaches.

So how do we adopt better behavior patterns that help us cope with our anticipatory anxiety better?

We can only get there when we understand where our anticipatory anxiety stems from.

Anxiety disorders: Anticipatory Anxiety & Symptoms 🥶

Anticipatory anxiety did not just show up one day - it's a specific negative outcome of your existing anxiety disorders.

This brings us to - what do anxiety disorders mean?

When our negative thoughts and worst-case scenarios about the future or upcoming event (or even daily life) fill us with fear and worry that numbs our capacity to function or even think - it's become a mental wellbeing issue.

This is when it's an anxiety disorder.

But what does that have to do with us experiencing anticipatory anxiety?

And when does anticipatory anxiety or other anxiety disorders become a threat to our mental health condition?

To find out these answers to our anticipatory anxiety, we have to dig deeper into our specific anxiety disorder.

Here are some of the common anxiety disorders that may be responsible for your anticipatory anxiety:

👉🏽 Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)

This is when you experience anxiety symptoms like a racing heart, brain fog, and lack of focus or concentration throughout the day.

You fear the uncertainty the day could bring, and you can't stop worrying about everyday life tasks like making phone calls or meeting a deadline.

This is why most people experience anticipatory anxiety directly linked to their GAD.

Since your feelings of anxiety have always been persistent, it only gets amplified at the thought of a worrying uncertainty during the day.

👉🏽 Panic disorder

Anticipatory anxiety stemming from panic disorder leads to intense fear and panic attacks.

A panic attack is when negative thoughts lead to breathlessness that feels like a heart attack. You also experience sweaty palms, and your fears cause you to worry out of control.

And when it spills into other factors of life - say, an interpersonal task like a one-on-one meeting at work, it manifests as panic attacks.

This is when anticipatory anxiety gets too intense - it affects our mental health.

Even though your anxious thought is just like a false alarm, you can't seem to stop your anticipatory anxiety from creating a worst-case scenario that feels so real.

This is when we dread social situations or social events.

There are mental disorders like social anxiety that make it tough to be around people without having racing thoughts causing low self-esteem or self-confidence.

You fear people's judgment and the very idea of future events (read: unpredictable threat) that provide the setting to make you feel anxious.

You tend to run low on self-compassion since you're always trying to be someone people will accept. This self-compassion is crucial for stopping your stress and anxiety from impacting your health conditions.

Social anxiety disorder can be more than just feeling anxious; it can lead to avoidance and isolation.

How does it look as anticipatory anxiety?

Maybe you were discouraged from performing on stage in your middle childhood stages which is now giving you the same anxiety and stress as an adult.

This is also why you experience anticipatory anxiety at the thought of a work meeting where all eyes are on you. Or it could also be why you experience anticipatory anxiety days before your first date or job interview.

Other anxiety disorders or other mental health issues 🥶

Another reason for your anticipatory anxiety could be underlying posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from a relevant experience that caused you anxiety and trauma. Medical reviewers say that PTSD can cause flashbacks that can cause severe anxiety.

Maybe the last time you tried something out of your comfort zone, you were made to feel dejected or hurt.

This is why you feel anxious and worried the next time you're expected to deliver beyond what you think you can do.

Coping With Anticipatory Anxiety 🤗

Remember how anxiety can lead to poor behavior patterns and coping mechanisms when not dealt with from its roots?

Now that we know where our specific anxiety triggers come from, we begin the journey to cope better.

To cope - begins with gaining control over our anxious thoughts because these control our behaviors. We've been used to having these negative thoughts for so long that it takes patience and time and consistency to turn them into positive ones.

So the next time a future event makes you feel anxious, start by countering your negative thoughts with ones that don't make your anxiety worse than it should be.

How?

Remember these steps 📌

💭 What are my thoughts telling me?

Your thoughts are bracing you for a negative outcome that may or may not happen. But these anxious thoughts have us convinced that there is a future threat.

Our thoughts are negative expectancies like - I will fail, or I'm not good enough.

Are these backed up by proof or rationale?

Nop.

🌻 What is the truth?

The truth is you have no control over these outcomes that you fear.

The truth is this is only giving you heightened anxiety—nothing else.

Your anticipatory anxiety is also robbing you of fully experiencing the moment.

But here's the truth you need to tell yourself when you experience anticipatory anxiety - I may not have succeeded before, but this time will be different. I can feel anxious, but these are my anticipatory processing of negative outcomes.

🗣 What can I do about it?

Know that you cannot change a second by stressing about it.

You can actively take charge the next time anxious thoughts or anticipatory anxiety start creeping in. How?

Focus on your breathing to recenter yourself. This can be quickly done at any time of the day with being - the world's first of a kind self-therapy app. Check out - I see anxiety taking hold of me to find out more!

Get enough sleep and rest to manage settings on your stress levels. Don't forget to add "Break Time" to your daily schedule.

Make journaling your friend. Let being help with that (again). Check out: I want to start/end my day with journaling.

Find your own specific calming technique and take time to indulge in that. It could be scrolling through dog videos on Youtube to reading subreddits preventing fraud hacks - find what retunes your thoughts to something more relevant than those anxious thoughts.

Treat yourself the next time you did something to challenge your anticipatory anxiety. This can help look at it as a positive thing as opposed to something that must be feared.

To conclude

It's normal to be anxious about a situation or event.

But know that it needs to be dealt with when it overpowers our capacity to think or function.

Sure, we have no power over the outcome, just like how we have no power over our personal data these days, but we can influence our symptoms and focus on keeping our fears from robbing our little moments.

Know that you can always seek professional help or therapy the next time you want to securely process your anticipatory anxiety signs and symptoms to learn ways to overcome it.

But in the interim, there's always being to help you make it through the day. With their mini therapies designed by mental health specialists, you can access therapy tools like meditation any time you want!

With a little bit of consistency and self-compassion, you get to finally untether yourself from this anxiety. Your journey through this is a unique one and you deserve all the love coming your way! Cheers!

Disclaimer

If you need immediate help or guidance with your clinical anxiety disorders, anticipatory anxiety, and specific phobias, seek advice, diagnosis, or treatment from mental health professional therapy or wellness professionals. They have integrated neurobiological ways for reducing anxiety, like functional magnetic resonance imaging (to measure how anxiety affects blood flow), exposure therapy, and other relaxation techniques like progressive muscle relaxation. You can read popular articles about your anticipatory anxiety disorders on relevant Healthline media websites and seek help from a therapist. The closest one is a google search away.