The essence of anxiety is worrying about some potential threat. Anxiety can make you feel threatened, worried, and panicked, with physiological effects such as increased heart rate, dizziness, and stomach aches.

The vicious cycle of anxiety is to feel anxious about a concern, avoid the situation, find short-term relief and as a result, experience stronger anxiety. This leads to a continued cycle of anxiety and avoidance of certain situations. The vicious cycle begins with an anxiety-provoking situation. This situation can be something external such as a work commitment, a trip, a social engagement, or any other event happening in the future that you’re worried about. Anxiety can also be provoked by something internal such as a physiological sensation, a thought about something you’re dreading, or an unpleasant emotion.

An anxiety-provoking situation can start a vicious cycle; when you notice your anxious symptoms and think that you can’t cope with the situation and these symptoms can make you feel like you are really in danger. The cycle of anxiety starts with a feared situation leading to an anxious thought trigger, then physical symptoms start, which are part of a fight or flight response; the symptoms can be a dry throat, sweating, stomach ache, shallow breathing, and dizziness. You start having negative thoughts like something bad will happen, which leads you to feel even more anxious, and you will begin to have thoughts that you are actually in danger.

All of this leads to safety behaviors such as avoiding stressful situations, withdrawing from people, or drinking more alcohol.

Avoiding the vicious cycle will only create more distress. That's why you should reverse it by gradually confronting feared situations; This will lead to an improved sense of confidence, which will help reduce your anxiety and allow you to go into situations important to you. Understanding your cycle of anxiety can help you break free from it.