How might avoidance perpetuate anxiety symptoms?

Avoidance can perpetuate anxiety symptoms in several ways.

Firstly, avoidance is negatively reinforced because it leads to a temporary reduction in anxiety. When you avoid a situation, person, or thought that triggers anxiety, the immediate feeling of relief reinforces the avoidance behaviour, making it more likely you will use this coping mechanism again in the future. This is a form of operant conditioning where the removal of an unpleasant consequence (anxiety) strengthens the avoidance behaviour.

Secondly, avoidance prevents you from learning that you can cope with anxiety or that the feared situation is not actually dangerous. By consistently avoiding anxiety-provoking situations, you never get to experience the full cycle of anxiety, where it typically peaks and then subsides. This lack of direct experience reinforces negative assumptions and prevents corrective emotional learning. You don’t get the opportunity to test your fearful predictions and realise that they might not come true.

Thirdly, avoidance leads to a restricted and less fulfilling life. As you avoid more and more situations to manage your anxiety, your world can become increasingly smaller. You may miss out on opportunities, social interactions, and activities you used to enjoy. This restriction can ironically perpetuate anxiety and may even contribute to feelings of loneliness and depression.

Fourthly, avoidance can strengthen the belief that anxiety is unbearable and must be avoided at all costs. By withdrawing from situations that cause anxiety, you send a message to your brain that the anxiety and the situation were indeed unbearable, reinforcing negative thought patterns. This can intensify the fear of anxiety itself (fear of fear) and create a cycle where anticipatory anxiety (fear of future anxiety) triggers more anxiety in the present.

Fifthly, avoidance can manifest in subtle ways, including safety behaviours, which also prevent learning. These behaviours, such as bringing a safe person, using distractions, or staying on your phone in social situations, offer temporary relief but prevent you from fully experiencing and learning to manage your anxiety.

Sixthly, mental avoidance, such as worrying and rumination, can also perpetuate anxiety. While these may seem like attempts to solve problems, they can actually be ways to avoid feeling the raw emotions of anxiety in the body. This cycle of thought can trigger more anxiety, leading to further mental avoidance.

In essence, avoidance, while providing short-term relief, acts as a maladaptive coping mechanism that maintains and can worsen anxiety in the long run by negative reinforcement, preventing exposure and learning, restricting life experiences, and reinforcing negative beliefs about anxiety. Addressing avoidance by gradually facing feared situations (exposure) is often a key element in overcoming anxiety disorders.