Does avoidance reinforce anxiety?
Deontae Green
2025-06-04 10:05:25
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Avoidance is a common response to anxiety and is present in many anxiety disorders. You may fear social interactions and therefore avoid going to work events. Nevertheless, that avoidance, if it becomes your default way of coping, can end up keeping you feeling anxious. If you are afraid of social gatherings and avoid them for the rest of your life, doing so may keep you feeling safe but will ultimately hinder you from learning that not all people are scary or need to be avoided. The same argument could be made against avoiding public speaking, flying, spiders, and so on. No one is saying that you need to put yourself into situations in which you don’t feel safe, however, it’s important to check your thinking to make sure you are not labeling all situations as unsafe.
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