Understanding & Managing Anxiety Disorders

"You mean there's more than one type of anxiety disorder?" Yes. Yes, there are several types and this module will give you a brief overview of each with the intention of helping you understand the basics of what we see most often from students at Cornish College of the Arts. Links to more information for those that want a deeper understanding will be provided.

Before diving in, it is important to remember that stress is not anxiety, and anxiety is not stress. Stress is that sickening feeling you might get because you are afraid you'll forget your choreography in the middle of a piece, or that your piece in the BFA will not be received well by gallery visitors. Or, you have a first date and you worry you might say something embarrassing during it. But, you do it anyway despite the butterflies. Despite the stress, your behavior changes little in preparation for these events. You learn to "tolerate the ambiguity" of what you cannot control and have faith that it will be okay, whatever happens.

However, with anxiety disorders your behaviors may be controlled by your anxiety and can lead you to work against your own goals. The perfectionist might rewrite a draft of a play, or paint a picture, over and over again, worrying it won't be good enough to turn in to their instructor. Hence, in not turning in any work, the perfectionist receives an F or an incomplete and reinforces their own belief that they aren't good enough. And the cycle repeats with the next assignment. The person with social anxiety may be so afraid of making an embarrassing comment and being judged by others that they choose not to socialize and become lonely which reinforces a potential belief that they don't deserve friends and they experience great loneliness. The person with OCD may want to get to the grocery store, but it takes several hours because before leaving the house they have to count the tiles in the kitchen before leaving, believing that in doing so they are warding off something catastrophic from happening to them or to loved ones. And when nothing bad happens to them, the "magical thinking" that tile counting is the reason for their safety becomes further entrenched.

Of course these are just a small selection of the ways anxiety can manifest itself. But anxiety is a trickster: it reinforces itself. Each time a person with anxiety avoids the event or stimulus that evokes symptoms of anxiety, the anxiety stands the chance of becoming more entrenched. This is what is called "negative reinforcement." When we avoid something we deem as uncomfortable or punishing, a sense of relief arises. We reinforce the behavior that leads to this relief, avoidance of the feared object or situation, which in turn exacerbates the fear.

The remedy is to face the feared situation, over and over and over, as a means of teaching oneself that our anxieties are based on belief, not on fact and evidence. This is called "habituation" and it sounds like an easy resolve, doesn't it? Taking these steps is so much harder than someone without anxiety realizes, and takes great patience and courage. Counseling Services is here to support you during that difficult journey.