Podcast: How anxiety shapes our choices and reactions

Anxiety isn't just a feeling; it's a powerful influencer of our actions. Learn from counselling psychologist Ashleigh Kater about the fine line between normal and problematic anxiety

Anxiety, that familiar knot in our stomachs or the unending worry in our minds, is much more than just an uncomfortable feeling; it can be a powerful force that can influence our behaviour.

In this episode, counselling psychologist Ashleigh Kater delves into the ways anxiety can take the wheel, leading us to actions we might not otherwise choose. However, it can also have some positives.

“Essentially, anxiety is a very natural response that we have to stress or a perceived threat. It’s basically a feeling of uneasiness, apprehension, or worry that manifests psychologically but also physically.”

Normal vs problematic anxiety

“When we think about anxiety, we try to kind of understand when it’s going to start being a little bit more problematic, and we think about how long you’ve been experiencing anxiety and how intense it is. So normal anxiety is just kind of a normal situation. It’s temporary, whereas problematic anxiety would last a lot longer than that. So, normal anxiety wouldn’t impact your daily functioning but problematic anxiety would.”

Furthermore, Kater explains how it makes us act in a way that tries to avoid or prepare for the worst-case scenario.

“Someone with anxiety, we may avoid as a coping mechanism to avoid situations, people, or activities that trigger their anxiety. Now, avoidance creates short-term relief, so it lessens your anxiety in the short term. But actually, what it does is, in the long term, it does the opposite.

“So in terms of the protective aspects of anxiety, it kicks in that survival instinct. It prepares you to respond quickly to the threat. So in situations where you are genuinely in danger, it’s going to heighten your awareness and increase your feeling of readiness to deal with the challenge.”