By Sakuni Weerasinghe   At this point, you’re probably already familiar with the term ‘anxiety’. However, anxiety is often painted as something brief, that reaches a peak and then dissipates with time. For example, it could be the intense nervousness that you experience right before doing a presentation in front of a reputed lecture panel or the physical jitters you experience just before you walk into an interview. But there’s more to the experience of anxiety. There is a characteristic of anxiety that people experience which manifests subtly over a longer-term, and that is anticipation. Anticipatory anxiety, although not a distinct mental health condition, is observed across many diagnosable anxiety conditions such as panic disorder, social anxiety, and phobias. It occurs when people experience increased anxiety over something they expect to happen in the future, which is often an unpredictable threat. This threat often looks like the worst-case scenario. Our minds, which are already apt at jumping from the present moment to the past and the future immediately, act as if the worst-case scenario is actively happening when under the influence of anticipatory anxiety. In circumstances such as those we’re facing now in the country when the surrounding environment brims with uncertainty, you can see how anticipatory anxiety would interfere with how we function daily. Anticipatory anxiety involves cognitive, emotional, and behavioural processes. This would mean that anticipatory anxiety would leave you finding it difficult to concentrate, having trouble managing your moods or experiencing an emotional numbness, and disengaging from activities you usually would enjoy. Anticipatory anxiety would essentially make you fixate on things you cannot control or predict. This would plague your mind with multiple, ‘what-if’ questions biased towards the negative. Given the current economic climate, your anticipatory anxiety would leave you wondering, ‘What if I lose my job?’, ‘What if I run out of my savings?’, and ‘What if I cannot afford basics in the future?’. These thoughts are also a form of catastrophizing. Think of the feelings that arise out of these thoughts. You’ll probably feel bad about life, and yourself, and gain a sense of hopelessness or panic to the point where you find it a struggle to work as usual; your social relationships can start to get affected as well. It’s a vicious cycle.   Now you may wonder, is all anticipatory anxiety bad? Researchers point out that some anticipatory processes serve an adaptive function when they operate in proportion to the severity of the threat. However, when used to the excess, they become maladaptive. When the anxiety becomes too overwhelming and intrusive, that’s when we’re in real trouble; especially when you overestimate what will happen and underestimate your ability to cope if or when it does. In light of the current situation, some of this anticipatory anxiety could prompt you to devise plans to cope with the economic conditions and daily life adversities. However, when you constantly engage in this form of thinking, it will start affecting your mental health and wellbeing. How can you manage anticipatory anxiety?   Practise a relaxation response Psychologists would point out that a person cannot both be in a state of anxiety and relaxation simultaneously. Hence, the way to manage anxiety is to engage in a relaxation response. This may take the form of a deep breathing exercise, a guided imagery exercise, or progressive muscle relaxation.   Make use of healthy distractions You know how when you look closely at a tiny ink spot, it appears bigger than it is. Similarly, when we direct our sole focus on a ‘what-if’ thought, it could lead us to ruminate and ultimately bring about a host of more unhelpful catastrophic thoughts. What helps break this vicious cycle is to engage in a healthy distraction. Try listening to your favourite playlist, going on a walk, or calling a friend instead.   Challenge your anxious thoughts If you’re thinking only of the worst-case scenario, challenge yourself to also think of the best-case scenario. Challenge yourself even further by inspecting how realistic these two scenarios may be. What is the most likely outcome? You can even keep a journal for this purpose.   Make peace with the uncertainty Anticipatory anxiety is rooted in and exacerbated by uncertainty. If we can make peace with the fact that human life involves a degree of uncertainty, we can bring back our attention to the present moment. Also, ponder for a moment on the times that you managed uncertainty in the past and still ended up okay. This will help you develop assurance in yourself and your ability to cope.   PHOTO © CHOOSING THERAPY, PSYCHOLOGY ASSOCIATES, DEVON MIND, PSYCOM   Sakuni Weerasinghe is an Applied Psychologist and Lecturer with an MSc from the UK, and a BSc in Psych Counselling from Sri Lanka.   Socials: Twitter: @sakuniamanda Instagram: @breathe.lk Facebook: breathe.lk