Breaking the Anxiety Loop
Spot the hidden habits keeping workplace stress alive.
Module 1
The Anxiety Cycle Explained
Map the CBT cycle from threat to safety behaviour.
Anxiety at work runs on a loop. A specific threat triggers worry about catastrophic outcomes. That worry cranks up fear, and fear drives you toward anything that makes it feel smaller, fast.
Those fast-relief moves are safety behaviours. They work - briefly. But because you never stay in the discomfort long enough to find out the threat was manageable, no learning takes place. The next time the same threat shows up, the loop starts again, a little more worn-in than before.
The key word in that diagram is "maintenance." Nothing in the loop resolves the original threat. Safety behaviours don't teach you the threat is less dangerous than assumed - they just postpone the test.
Quiz
Why do safety behaviours maintain anxiety rather than reduce it?
- They temporarily relieve anxiety but prevent learning that the threat is less dangerous than assumed.
- They always make anxiety worse in the short term.
- They increase the size of the original threat.
- They work only for situational avoidance, not other types.