anxiety

On overthinking

| jaylazzo

I have to get export permits. The thought intimidates me.

What about this intimidates? Legally? No problem. The object is covered by application procedures that are at least clear.

Tedious? Maybe. Most procedures like this involve getting only one or two signatures, with one supporting document (already prepared), and a fee. One week and I’m done.

So, what intimidates is not the problem outside, but the anxiety inside. The problem in my thinking. I’m intimately familiar with at least one of the culprits: the Zeigarnik Effect.

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The Zeigarnik Effect is a psychological phenomenon named after its discoverer, Russian psychologist Bluma Zeigarnik (1901-1988). She noticed that waiters were better at remembering uncompleted orders than completed ones. She confirmed the phenomenon through studies she conducted in the 1920s.

Cognitive psychology suggests an explanation.

The brain’s cognitive tension system is aroused when a task is started but not finished. This tension creates a mental preoccupation with the uncompleted task, resulting in the task being more readily recalled. Once completed, the tension is relieved, and the brain is less likely to recall the details of the task, as it is no longer a matter of concern.

Although the neurobiology is unclear, it’s reasonable to associate the Effect with the activation of brain regions related to attention and memory. These hypotheses are based on the broader understanding of memory, attention, and motivation systems in the brain.

We begin with the prefrontal cortex, site of attention, working memory, and decision-making. The hippocampus, crucial for memory consolidation and retrieval, might be engaged differently for completed and uncompleted tasks due to the tension difference.

The amygdala might play a role. A key part of the brain’s limbic system, the amygdala plays a crucial role in processing emotions, including fear and anxiety. It also contributes to the emotional aspect of pain. When the thought of long bureaucratic procedures makes one anxious, the amygdala goes hyperactive, making the pain feel worse. Signals from the amygdala feed back into the prefrontal cortex giving it a kind of tunnel vision. As a result, one might make decisions with too little information and too much emotion.

If one doesn’t procrastinate by ignoring the problem, one might still paralyze oneself through overthinking. Focusing on only a few aspects of the problem could kill a course of action that could otherwise have proceeded had key information not been ignored. One can fixate on the worst case scenario. I prefer paralysis in this case over an ill considered course of action.

But one will still have to face the issue. Therefore, beat overthinking.

The first step is to know that 99% of a problem lies in one’s thinking, and 1% in reality. How we gather and verify facts, from whom we seek advice, our attitude towards risk and failure have a greater bearing on the outcome of our struggle with problems than the actual dangers.

At this point I suggest three strategems.

First, Time and Silence. There MAY be good reasons not to take action, and being emotional is one of them. If the situation allows it, let that emotion pass before you study your options. If you only have seconds to decide — which happens rarely — then go where your gut leads you and hope for the best.

Second, Fact Check Your Thinking. It may look tedious to check one’s facts, so let’s put the costs in perspective. Use the 1-10-100 Rule. It costs $1 to validate one’s facts, $10 to correct wrong facts, and $100 to reverse a bad decision. Be aware also of the fact that the Zeigarnik Effect is a psychological phenomenon, an illusion.

And third, Live in the Present because only the present is real. The outcomes of your scenarios, none of them are actually disastrous because they haven’t actually happened. All Worry and anxiety are about the future, guilt is about the past, and both past and future are UNREAL. Focus on the now and put one foot over the other.

Climbing a mountain involves occasionally checking for coordinates or the weather. And it’s also about stopping and enjoying the scenery. But do be relentless.

And you may well fail. Then think of failure as showing the way by NOT being the way. Use it. Double back. Then keep at it.

(Q.C., 230801)

Emotional trash of worry and anxiety

| jaylazzo

“Existe um lixo emocional: ele e produzido nas usinas do pensamento. Sao dores que ja passaram, e agora nao tem mais utilidade. Sao precaucoes que foram importantes no passada mas de nada servem no presente.”

Anxieties and worries are reactions to signals. Sensors. They suggest to us decisions we could make and take actions that are thoughtful and useful. But they can also stimulate an internal debate that amplifies the original feelings, drowns out reason, and leads to rash decisions.

A trained mind will know how to stop this unproductive internal spiral. It may react with worry and anxiety for maybe a fraction of a second, say. BUT WILL NOT DWELL on it. Instead, anxiety and worry could even lead to clear judgment. This is because judgment flows from reason. The urge to calm the pain can short-circuit or bypasses reason.

I understand this process quite clearly. Putting it into practice in the face of strong negative emotions, however, is not easy. That is because emotions can inspire memories and learned reasonings that reinforce those feelings causing me to buckle through a vicious cycle where emotion leads to more emotion.

Say a person criticizes me. I will react with anxiety to that. In the right frame of mind this reaction would last for only the time needed to assess whether to take that signal seriously. From here, I should shift to an assessment of the situation it signals. I’ve learned over the years that many things that cause worry at the start can be dealt with reasonably.

But some worries and anxieties are habitually stronger than others. The fear of rejection by peers is one of these. This habit has diminished considerably over many areas, but it is still something that causes me to get irritated when criticized (even by well meaning people) and fearful of getting into a situation where I might get criticized. How I managed to take on leadership roles with this fear is a testament to the power reason can exercise when not overwhelmed by emotion.

One might argue: “Isn’t instinct an action that flows directly from feeling?” I think this is a productive “short cut” when the stimulus is a familiar one, and familiar in the sense that one knows one can handle it. It is when the stimulus is unfamiliar and the perceived threat so strong — because unfamiliar — that the problem of thoughtless action arises. This reasoning also suggests a way out of being held captive by emotional habits, and that is to work at it. The more exposes oneself to challenges just a little above one’s abilities the more one realizes that threats are not as big as they seem. This realistic knowledge of one’s abilities in the face of given levels of challenge is the basis for true confidence. That is, in contrast to bluster, which often can just be a way to cope with fear.

Sometimes this works.