how to deal with fear of the future
uncertainty It’s part of the human condition and, whether we like it or not, it is a constant and insatiable companion. There are dozens of circumstances around us that we cannot foresee or control, no matter how hard we try to do so, be it health problems, economic problems, problems at work, personal relationships, etc. When these events are also painful, they paralyze…wow! Yes, they paralyze! It was as if someone had stopped the hands of a clock.
There are those who manage to move on with their lives, be resilient and understand that they cannot predict every future event. But other people are immersed in fear and constant uncertainty that breaks them. Only someone who suffers from it can understand what it’s like to be overcome by fear, the pain even transforms into physical pain, and the most everyday situations bring you to the point of panic. We talked to an expert about Anticipation anxiety, its symptoms and what we can do to cope with fear of the future.
What is anticipation anxiety?
“Anticipatory anxiety is a psychological disorder that is one of the anxiety disorders and comprises anticipation of negative events that we think will happen. Eventually you will think that everything will go wrong, and then you will get terrible catastrophic results,” explains Lara Ferreiro, registered psychologist M-30022 and author of the book. Asshole Addiction: Overcome the Emotional Dependency of Toxic Relationships. “If you have a puncture in your heart, you think it will be a myocardial infarction. If your boyfriend suddenly tells you that he is a little sad, you think that he will leave you. That is, in any area and under any circumstances, Your nervous system will be activated, unpleasant sensations and very negative thoughts about the future will appear.“, gave an example.
The psychologist warns us about the importance of differentiating between normal and pathological anticipation anxiety. After all, anxiety is our body and mind’s natural response to threatening situations. A kind of informer who warns us and helps us respond to mortal danger.
“The problem is that people now activate alarm systems that should only be activated in exceptional cases, in everyday life,” he notes. “And this anticipation of anxiety gives you the same symptoms as if you were facing real danger, although this is not the case.” To which he adds: “It’s very dangerous because you produce cortisol, the stress hormoneand it makes you rusty and even give off autoimmune diseases.”
So there is a certain anticipation that is natural when you think about the future, about what tomorrow holds, but what is disturbing is that “it has turned into anticipatory anxiety.” very toxic, very disproportionatethere is an expectation of disasters, and this causes a lot of problems,” says Ferreiro. Something that can even lead to other types of disorders such as depression.
Why are we afraid of the future?
To understand anticipation anxiety, it is important to know its origins, because no, it is not just one, but much more than we can imagine. In this sense, Lara Ferreiro lists possible reasons:
- Traumatic experiences from the past: Complex trauma can be a trigger for anticipatory anxiety. “Well, imagine that your sister suddenly gets hit by a car, then you believe that the same thing will happen to you because you have experienced this trauma. Or people who have been abused and believe that they will suffer again,” the psychologist gives an example.
- Uncontrollable phobias or fears: The fact that at that time he had not dealt with some phobias, such as the fear of flying, caused by a bad experience.
- Previous background: The expert refers to the fact that we have previously suffered from anxiety attacks or, for example, we have “learned” them from a family model of a very anxious mother or father.
- Personality disorders: powerful, possessive people, with low self-esteem and great insecurity, negative, pessimistic and even very demanding people.
- Genetic predisposition: In this sense, Lara Ferreiro points to brain chemistry and in particular the lack of endorphins, also called happy hormones, as the reason why we see everything in a more negative way.
Photogram “Black Swan”.
Self-fulfilling prophecy and learned helplessness
For these reasons, the psychologist tells us about two problems that have attracted our attention. On the one hand, the term “self-fulfilling prophecy”or, what is the same thing, when this initial prediction, not being true and not supported by anything objective, becomes real.
Lara Ferreiro notes the danger of thinking that we actually predicted it and he gives us an example to understand this in the workplace: “You think”Oh my God, they’re going to fire me.‘ and suddenly you start talking back to everyone because you misinterpret that people think you’re a bad employee. In the end, you create a bad atmosphere in the company, they fire you, and you say: “do you see this, do you see this? I knew it‘. But you created this whole context so that you would ultimately be fired.”
For another, learned helplessness, that moment when you’ve already struggled so much with anxiety that you think you can’t defend yourself in any situation. Eventually you move past it and resign yourself to the idea that you won’t be able to handle it. “I have patients who have such anticipatory anxiety and panic attacks that they don’t go directly to the mountains, don’t meet people, because they think it will make them anxious… then it’s already be afraid of fear and this is very problematic,” he explains.
The most common symptoms of anticipation anxiety
“Between possible symptoms“: severe nervousness, agitation, inability to concentrate, constant negative thinking about the future and in any area of life, inability to control those anxieties that are like obsessive thoughts,” he begins. by transfer. And he continues: “There are people who lack of air and they have very rapid breathing, this also causes digestive problems, poor digestion, everything affects the stomach… chronic fatigue, they cannot sleep, muscle pain, all this stiffness then makes their back really hurt.” To this he adds the heartbeat and other forms of anxiety: generalized anxiety, social anxiety, panic attacks, obsessive-compulsive disorder, separation anxiety…
The impact of anticipation anxiety on everyday life
Hearing Lara Ferreiro talk about how this disorder affects a person in everyday life is shocking. “I have seen people completely destroyed by this anticipatory anxiety.“, he tells us. A problem that affects the psychological, social, emotional level and which can be translated as:
- Personal relationships: Changes in behavior because you think people are thinking badly of you, such as creating tension and conflicts, inability to concentrate or sleep even during work hours due to insomnia problems.
- Physical symptoms: palpitations, sweating, etc.
- Low self-esteem: Avoid all types of work or personal opportunities because you think the outcome will always be bad, that they won’t hire you, that they won’t want you in a relationship.
- Cycle of panic: “The panic cycle is terrible,” the psychologist begins to explain. “You think that something will happen to you, so you worry a lot, you avoid leaving the house…”
Seven Effective Tips for Dealing with Anticipation Anxiety
First of all, Lara Ferreiro launches message of hope what we cling to with our nails and teeth, and that’s it.”you can get out of all this“, he assures. Moreover, this gives us 7 Tips to Deal with Anticipation Anxiety and let it not be the one who rules over us:
1. Use relaxation techniques
The expert recommends doing this once a day, such as every evening before bed. It consists of the fact that “every time we go to the future, we have to return to the present.” take a breath and do the five by five technique. Inhale air, breathe for 5 seconds, hold and release. Like this five times. This is SOS breathing, emergency breathing.” He collects some of these exercises on his YouTube channel.
2. Practice the monk’s mind
“Every time you go into the future, you return to the present by performing a stopping technique in which You picture an imaginary stop sign in your head. and you return to the present time. Buddhists practice this many times every day because living in the present is a sign of happiness,” he explains.
3. Actions to disable
Activities that help you relax, such as going for a walk, watching a TV show that distracts you, anything that reduces your anxiety level.
4. Seek professional help
“If you feel like you can’t cope with it, or read books about anxiety, there are some really good books out there.” occupational therapy It works like a real savior, as the expert assures: “I have seen people who took anxiolytics for 24 years, they came to therapy, worked on it and stopped.”
5. Go to the gym
He physical exercise It’s ideal for anxiety because “you can naturally release endorphins and remove cortisol,” he notes.
6. Anti-cortisol people
By this term Ferreiro means people who fill us with joy and with whom we establish a healthy relationship, because toxic relationships are precisely the source of anxiety.
7. A phrase to repeat to yourself
Follow this recommendation: “Every time you think about something negative, you should tell yourself: “I still don’t know that, it didn’t happen because 95% of bad thoughts about the future don’t come true.”“
Some really surprising data on mental health in Spain
“I think that we are facing an emotional pandemic addiction to anxiolytics,” explains the worried psychologist. “I see him in therapy all the time, it’s people take anxiolytics like candy. Plus a little self-medication, so imagine what we’re talking about. “We clearly have a problem.” And he says this not as a statement on air, but based on Evidence shows the urgency of addressing mental health in Spain.
According to the study Progress 2023 – Mental Health Index“approximately 84 million people (every sixth person) suffer from some type of mental disorder in Europe.” Among them, according to 2019 data, anxiety disorders will be in first place, followed by depressive disorders. Statistically, Spain would be in second place after Portugal.
But that’s not all, Lara Ferreiro tells us: “Spain is the first country in the world with the most uses psychotropic drugs, this is data from the International Narcotics Control Board, imagine. What we’re saying is that Spain is the country that consumes the most anti-anxiety drugs in the world.”
If this seems like a minor emergency, it is vital to raise awareness about addressing mental health, especially as we look to the next generations. On the occasion of World Mental Health Day, UNICEF Spain published a document: The urgency of working together to ensure the mental health and emotional well-being of boys, girls and adolescents. In it, they state that “according to global estimates from the University of Washington Global Burden of Disease Study compiled in The State of the World’s Children 2021 report,” The prevalence of mental health problems diagnosed in adolescents aged 10–19 years in Spain is 20.8%.. These figures contrast, according to the same study, with 16.3% in the European Union and 13.2% worldwide.”
The numbers speak for themselves.