GAD Coping How to Break the Anxiety Cycle and Overcome Worry By Deborah R. Glasofer, PhD twitter linkedin Deborah Glasofer, PhD is a professor of clinical psychology and practitioner of cognitive behavioral therapy. Learn about our editorial process Deborah R. Glasofer, PhD Reviewed by Reviewed by Amy Morin, LCSW on January 24, 2020 facebook twitter linkedin instagram Amy Morin, LCSW, is the Editor-in-Chief of Verywell Mind. She's also a psychotherapist, the author of the bestselling book "13 Things Mentally Strong People Don't Do," and the host of the Mentally Strong People podcast. Learn about our Review Board Amy Morin, LCSW Updated on March 24, 2020 Print Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), in adults and youth, is characterized by persistent, excessive worry. If the problem started and ended with a worry, it might not be such a big deal. Instead, people with GAD get bogged down as one worry leads to another and another. How an Anxiety Cycle Begins recep-bg / Getty Images Worries are maintained for several reasons. Some worries might persist because of biased thinking. This could involve an overestimation of the likelihood of a bad outcome or an exaggeration of how bad the bad outcome will be. Some worries are strengthened by negative thoughts about oneself, such as the belief that one would be unable to cope with uncertainty or an undesirable outcome. Worries can also persist because of how information in the environment is processed. A person with GAD may selectively tune into information that supports the worry and ignore evidence that refutes it. And memory can also be selective. In some cases, people with anxiety problems have difficulty recalling data that is inconsistent with a particular worry. Lastly, worries can persist because of the ways to which they are responded. Individuals with untreated anxiety problems tend to respond to their fears by trying to suppress the worry, seek reassurance that nothing bad will happen, or avoid situations that might trigger the fear. These strategies can make people feel terrible and reinforce the anxiety, thus creating a cycle. Why Break the Cycle? Take, for example, the worry that “My boyfriend is going to break up with me.” This is an intrusive thought that is actually quite normal for a person to have. It might come up ‘out of the blue’ or in response to a specific situation. However, an overly anxious person would appraise this thought as very meaningful, review all the reasons why this thought might be true, try to reduce the anxiety in the short-term (effectively strengthening it in the long-term), and feel terrible. Thus, the belief becomes even more significant and is experienced more frequently and more intensely than in someone without an anxiety problem. To overcome anxiety, this vicious cycle needs to be broken. How to Break the Cycle There are different ways that you may be able to approach an anxiety cycle and break it for better emotional wellness. Acceptance One way to break the cycle is to learn to accept that not every intrusive thought is signaling a legitimate reason to worry. Simply put, not every thought is true. Instead of trying to wrestle with beliefs, acceptance-based techniques involve identifying the thought, labeling it (“worry” or “judgment,” for example), and being mindful of the moment that gives rise to the belief as well as the moment when it begins to recede from awareness. The 7 Best Online Anxiety Support Groups of 2021 Questioning Another strategy that can effectively break the link between biases in thinking and information processing is cognitive restructuring. This technique is a cornerstone of a treatment approach called cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). Cognitive restructuring offers a way to critically evaluate potentially distorted thoughts, like “He’s definitely going to break up with me” or “I cannot go on without him,” by asking a series of questions about the belief that can encourage a more balanced view of the relevant facts. Cognitive Restructuring Tips Exposure Finally, exposure is a tool that can break the cycle by eliminating reliance on ineffective anxiety reduction strategies. The basic concept of exposure is to lean into anxiety by confronting, rather than avoiding, anxiety-provoking situations to learn by experience either that nothing terrible will happen, or that bad outcomes are manageable (and might even have an upside). When facing a fear, it is critical not to engage in any safety behaviors that might “undo” learning; this is sometimes referred to as response prevention. Exposure exercises for the example above would include intentionally disagreeing with a boyfriend or imagining what it would be like to get into a major argument. Repetition helps with exposure, so it would be important to disagree with some regularity or to imagine the major argument again and again—until it all becomes more boring than anxiety-provoking. The response prevention component would be to do these things and not ask whether or not your boyfriend is mad, so as to learn to live with uncertainty. While the cycle of anxiety is, indeed, vicious, breaking even one link can go a long way to diminishing worry and the anxiety to which it leads. If you or a loved one are struggling with anxiety, contact the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) National Helpline at 1-800-662-4357 for information on support and treatment facilities in your area. For more mental health resources, see our National Helpline Database. Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Learn the best ways to manage stress and negativity in your life. Sign Up You're in! Thank you, {{form.email}}, for signing up. There was an error. Please try again. What are your concerns? Other Inaccurate Hard to Understand Submit Article Sources Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy. Generalized Anxiety Disorder: When Worry Gets Out Of Control. National Institute of Mental Health. US Department of Health and Human Services. 2016. Mogg K, Bradley BP. Anxiety and attention to threat: cognitive mechanisms and treatment with attention bias modification in Behavior Research and Therapy. Elsevier. 2016. Wells A. Metacognitive theory and therapy for worry and generalized anxiety disorder: review and status. Journal of Experimental Psychopathology. 2010;1(1):133-145. doi:10.5127/jep.007910 Treanor M, Erisman SM, Salters-pedneault K, Roemer L, Orsillo SM. Acceptance-based behavioral therapy for GAD: effects on outcomes from three theoretical models. Depress Anxiety. 2011;28(2):127-36. doi:10.1002/da.20766 Tolin D. Doing CBT: A Comprehensive Guide To Working With Behaviors, Thoughts, And Emotions. Guilford Publications, Inc. 2016. Additional Reading Abramowitz JS, Deacon BJ, & Whiteside SPH. Exposure Therapy for Anxiety: Principles and Practice. New York: The Guilford Press, 2011. Beck, JS. Cognitive Therapy: Basics and Beyond. New York: The Guilford Press, 1995. Leahy, RL. Cognitive Therapy Techniques: A Practitioner’s Guide. New York: The Guilford Press, 2003.