The Anxiety Antidote

Note: This discussion focuses on everyday, non-clinical anxiety and not on the clinical types of anxiety disorders.

I’ve experienced plenty of anxiety-inducing moments in my life, but one stands out vividly, etched into my memory.

A couple of years ago, I was preparing for a crucial exam, one that could significantly impact my career as a pharmacist.

Exam season always brought its fair share of stress, but this particular test felt like it carried the weight of my entire future.

Being the type-A personality I am, I made a meticulous plan to prepare for it. I listed every topic I needed to cover, gathered all my notes and textbooks, and got to work.

For two straight months, my days revolved around reading, revising and tackling endless practice questions.

Finally when the exam day arrived, I felt cautiously confident walking into the exam room. I’d done the work. I’d prepared as thoroughly as possible.

I sat down, switched on my laptop, logged into the exam portal, and begun the exam. The first hour flew by. I was making progress but knew I needed to pick up the pace to finish in time.

And then, disaster struck.

Out of nowhere, my laptop decided it was the perfect time to run a software update. I couldn’t believe it. Panic surged through me like an electric shock. I scrambled to cancel it, but the screen was unresponsive.

I sat there frozen for a moment, not knowing what to do. My stomach dropped, my heart started pounding as worst-case scenarios unfolded in my mind:

I’ll never be able to finish the exam in time. I’ll fail. I’ll have to wait another year to retake this exam.

Feeling completely helpless, I watched the update slowly crawl toward 100%.

After what felt like an eternity later, the laptop finally restarted. I logged back into the portal, scrambling to do what I could within the remaining time.

As I left that exam room, I had absolutely no idea how I had done.

The weeks that followed were agonizing. My mind replayed the scene over and over, dissecting every moment and imagining every possible scenario.

When the results finally arrived, I braced myself for the worst.

But to my surprise, I passed!

The relief was overwhelming. In that moment, I remember thinking: I spent the last couple of weeks feeling miserable. Turns out it was for nothing.

So, why is it that in these moments when we feel anxious, it feels like it’s the end of the world?

Why we feel anxious: The Science of Anxiety

To understand why we feel anxious, we first need to explore what happens in the brain and body when we perceive danger.

Whenever there’s danger around you, your body through your senses transmits this information to your brain.

A part of the brain known as the amygdala acts as the alarm system, sending signals to other systems to initiate a cascade of responses that put you in high alert to either run, fight, or remain in place:

• The sympathetic nervous system is activated causing a spike in the release of adrenaline.

• Adrenaline causes your heart to pump faster, makes your breathing fast and shallow, and dilates your pupils.

• Blood flow is redirected from less critical functions, like digestion, to the muscles to prepare for them for action.

• The adrenal gland is stimulated to increase cortisol release to maintain this alertness.

All this happens automatically within seconds. It’s an essential part of your instinctive survival mechanism.

Anxiety is closely tied to this natural fear response.

Fear vs Anxiety

One limitation of the fear response is that it’s a “shoot first, ask questions later” system. It isn’t able to differentiate between real or imagined threats.

So while both fear and anxiety are a part of the same response system in the brain and body, they’re not quite the same:

• Fear is a response to an immediate, identifiable threat (e.g., encountering a snake).

• Anxiety is a response to a future-oriented, perceived threat (e.g., worrying about losing a job).

While fear is rooted in an actual threat happening in the present, anxiety focuses on uncertainties and "what ifs."

In addition, anxiety stems not from the actual threat, but from how you interpret a potential threat.

When we feel anxious, we often attribute it directly to a specific situation. However, what actually happens is this: we encounter a situation, interpret it through our thoughts, and then experience anxiety.

In essence, anxiety arises not from the situation itself but from how we perceive and interpret it.

What makes anxiety worse

At the root of anxiety lies a feeling of not being in control over a situation.

Your brain interprets this as a threat and convinces you that you’re unable to manage either the situation or the emotions it causes.

This discomfort often drives a strong urge to escape or eliminate the source of anxiety as quickly as possible.

For many, the simplest solution is usually to avoid the anxiety-inducing situation.

For instance:

• You feel anxious about talking to strangers, so you decline an invitation to a social event.

• You fear making a mistake and embarrassing yourself during a presentation, so you skip it.

Although avoidance usually makes you feel safe in the moment, it’s a counterproductive response to anxiety.

Avoidance feels like a solution because it provides immediate relief by removing the perceived threat.

However, it often makes anxiety worse in the long run.

The temporary relief usually reinforce the idea that avoiding the anxiety-inducing situation is the best way to feel better. It prevents the brain from learning that the feared outcome is unlikely or manageable.

Without exposure, the brain continues to associate the situation with danger, keeping the anxiety alive and even amplifying it over time.

The next time you face a similar situation, the anxiety may feel even more intense because you haven’t built the skills or confidence to cope.

Avoidance doesn’t eliminate the source of anxiety—it only delays it.

So, if avoiding an anxiety-inducing situation makes it worse over time, what’s the best response to anxiety?

The Anxiety Antidote

In order to reduce your feelings of anxiety in a given situation, your brain needs an opportunity to update its threat-assessing system.

In other words, you need to face your anxiety.

It sounds simple, but it’s by no means easy.

Avoiding anxious feelings comes naturally to us because it’s easy. Going contrary to this—facing your anxiety—is hard and uncomfortable.

One effective way to face anxiety is by practicing thought-challenging, an evidence-based technique rooted in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT).

Anxiety often stems from automatic thoughts—those quick, knee-jerk reactions to a situation. These thoughts are frequently distorted and not based on facts.

They amplify the perceived threat and create unnecessary worry. For example:

• Situation: Your boss sends you an email requesting a meeting.

• Automatic Thought: I must have done something wrong. I’m going to get fired.

• Emotional Response: Anxiety, dread, and self-doubt.

The goal of thought-challenging is to interrupt this cycle by examining the validity of these distorted thoughts and replacing them with a more balanced perspective.

Here’s a guide on challenging an anxious thought using my exam mishap example:

Step 1: Spot it

Whenever you feel anxious, take a moment and recognize the thoughts you’re having about that specific situation.

• Example: “I’ll never finish the exam on time, and I’ll fail. This failure will ruin my career.”

Step 2: Label it

Recognize that the thoughts you have aren’t facts. They’re simply your brain’s way of trying to make sense of the situation. So instead of buying into those thoughts as the only version of reality, label them for what they are—distorted thoughts.

Step 3: Challenge it

Examine the thought critically: is it an accurate assessment of the situation? What evidence do you have to support and contradict the thought? What other versions of reality are there?

• Evidence supporting the thought: “I had less time to complete the exam than what I planned for.”

• Evidence against the thought: “While part of the exam was rushed, I still managed to answer most of the questions.”

Step 4: Reframe it

Swap the distorted negative thought with either something that’s more accurate or more helpful for the situation.

• Original Thought: “I’ll fail the exam and ruin my career.”

• Reframed Thought: “I might not have finished everything perfectly, but I likely performed better than I’m giving myself credit for. Even if the outcome isn’t ideal, it’s not the end of the world. I can still retake the exam.”

While this is a very simplified version, thought-challenging is an effective way of dealing with the automatic negative thoughts that lead to anxiety.

However, I must state that trying to unlearn a thought pattern that’s rooted in years of practice takes time.

The good news? If you can learn it, you can unlearn it.

Just as you’ve learned how to think yourself into feeling anxious, you are capable of learning a new way of thinking that makes you less anxious.

Thought-challenging doesn’t eliminate anxiety instantly, but it helps reshape how you interpret anxiety-inducing situations.

By repeatedly practicing this technique, you train your brain to default to balanced thinking, reducing the intensity and frequency of anxious thoughts.

Over time, you’ll likely find that the anxiety-inducing situation isn’t as frightening as it initially seemed, and you’ll develop the resilience to face life’s uncertainties with greater confidence.

And like any skill, thought-challenging becomes easier and more effective with consistent use.

This practice is a reminder that while you can’t always control situations, you can control how you respond to them.

Thanks for reading! I hope you found something valuable :)

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