Role of Anticipatory anxiety in the time of Uncertainty

Anticipatory anxiety can be a symptom of generalized anxiety disorder, social anxiety, or panic disorder, but people without a formal diagnosis experience it, too – especially right now.

In a March 2021 survey by the American Psychological Association, 50% of participants reported experiencing anxiety in the pandemic’s re-entry phase. Some anxiety is good for you; it motivates you to work hard and prepares you if something goes wrong. Too much of that hypervigilance will lead to avoidance, though. Uncertainty or unpredictability prevents you from planning well and forces you to make wrong decisions.

A more straightforward strategy involves

  • Mindfulness to Present: Encouraging ourselves to spend less time worrying about what might happen and instead focus on living in the present. Being fully present in the moment prevents anxiety about the future.
  • Accurate Expectation: One way to reduce anxiety might involve moving “from inaccurate expectations to more accurate expectations to no expectations at all.” Incorporating mindfulness traditions into CBT—specifically, focusing on awareness of current internal and external experiences and practicing non-judgmental acceptance (rather than avoidance) of negative emotional states—enables individuals to tolerate unavoidable uncertainties and helps those suffering from anxiety realize that uncertainty about the future need not control their lives.
  • The “5-4-3-2-1 Reset” (Grounding in the Present) :When anticipatory anxiety pulls your mind into the future, grounding exercises bring attention back to the present moment.Try this:
  1. 5 things you can see – Look around and name five objects. 4 things you can feel – Your feet on the floor, the chair, your clothes. 3 things you can hear – A fan, distant voices, traffic. 2 things you can smell – Coffee, soap, fresh air. 1 thing you can taste – A sip of water or simply notice your breath.
  • Why it works:
    This exercise interrupts the brain’s threat-scanning mode and activates sensory awareness, shifting attention from imagined future threats to immediate reality.