
How Anxiety Warps Your Perception - nedsma
http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20160928-how-anxiety-warps-your-perception
======
apatters
The most interesting and useful piece of information in this story is buried
towards the end: there is an app which implements a gamified version of ABMT
therapy.

The BBC didn't even mention its name! From searching around it appears to be
Personal Zen (iOS only):
[http://www.personalzen.com/](http://www.personalzen.com/)

Don't know what kind of twisted priorities in the newsroom would focus a story
like this on using anxiety to make a political point, versus putting the focus
on a way people can treat their anxiety, but hey, that's probably just my
anxiety speaking.

~~~
jontayesp
I just tried that app, but actually felt more stress because of the time
pressure to find the one "good" guy vs the one "bad" guy (they only appear for
a split second).

It would be more interesting to initially see one good guy surrounded by many
bad guys. As you focus on the good guy, you are rewarded by producing more
good guys and bad guys disappear. Instead of gamifying the experience, show
the user that focusing on the good guys creates positive momentum.

~~~
ricardobeat
This app seems to be designed by psychologists based on several studies to
treat anxiety, it is not a stress-release tool. The original article also
mentions the goal is to retrain your reaction / attention to negative stimuli,
which may explain the quick reaction time needed.

[meta] Your comment is solely about yourself and adds very little to the
conversation.

~~~
sp332
The first sentence on the page says it reduces stress and anxiety.

~~~
derefr
Most therapeutic (rather than pharmaceutical) approaches to treating anxiety
that have a long-term impact, require you to focus on (or at least
acknowledge) the stressful stimuli repeatedly in the short term:

•
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_behavioral_therapy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_behavioral_therapy)
requires that you focus on stressful thoughts to "pick them apart."

•
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exposure_therapy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exposure_therapy)
requires that you experience a stress-trigger and "pass through" the initial
phobic reaction to get to the point where you can neutrally observe that the
stimuli isn't dangerous.

------
mpdehaan2
Somewhat off topic, but if you are having anxiety issues, I strongly recommend
the Headspace mobile app. While a lot of mindfulness apps have a lot of fluffy
new-age tone to them, this one did not, and it also tends to introduce
concepts at a very good pace (a little bit of things to try each day) which
makes things memorable. By contrast, you may talk to someone and hear 100
things to do, and you'll explode trying to do them all.

Anyway, for me, it strikes the right balance. The trick here is more about
learning to focus but also learning to completely percieve the feeling and
know what it is, and then it's less strong than trying to always think about
it - rather than identifying with it.

~~~
300bps
On Headspace, I did the 30 day foundation program followed by the 30 day
anxiety pack.

It gives you some good methods but as the program says over and over it is not
a panacea and requires a lot of work.

I think I've benefited from it but not as much as I'd hoped.

~~~
the_watcher
I've had a similar experience, although not entirely unexpected. From
everything I've gathered, meditation and guided breathing are tools to use to
fight anxiety, but are by no means sufficient on their own for many. I've
found that daily meditation and guided breathing can sometimes have the
opposite effect for me when I'm not struggling as much by bringing me back to
an anxious state. At the same time, working through their intro programs has
definitely given me some tools and coping strategies that help me when I find
my anxiety rising.

Also off-topic a bit, but for me, the single most impactful thing I have found
for coping with anxiety is regular strenuous exercise. I'd been told this for
years, but it's only recently that I've taken it seriously, and can now feel
my anxieties begin to bubble up when I get out of my exercise routine. It's
been so impactful that I just always want to make sure I highlight it when
discussing anxiety, since it took so much time for it to really sink in for
me.

~~~
mpdehaan2
Exercise++

My take-away from exercises was more of that it builds awareness that makes it
easier to stay in flow states for longer over time, which in turn allows (like
he says) kind of not making thoughts go away but getting less attached to
them, also over time. It's definitely not an immediate gain, but I think the
"noticing you are being distracted" and being able to stop is a good part.

------
etiene
As a radical leftist with crippling anxiety, the political part of this
article was rather unexpected

~~~
throwanem
I would be curious to see a similar study oriented along a radical/moderate
axis, rather than left-wing/right-wing. Of course, to be of real value, it'd
need not to be n=20 psych undergrads, but I may as well wish for a pony while
I'm at it.

~~~
nitrogen
Wouldn't that be the same as normalizing a left-to-right scale to [-1,1] and
taking the absolute value? Or is it possible for there to be "radical
centrism"?

~~~
throwanem
Perhaps. I'm not sure the metric used in the study would support such
analysis, though, and if they published their raw data alongside their
methodology and conclusions, I wasn't able to find it.

------
degenerate
>> _"... know that you’re in good company. Actors like Jennifer Lawrence and
Emma Stone, musicians such as The Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson and Taylor Swift
..."_

Not quite the 'company' I had in mind when thinking about anxiety. If the
article started out with 'medical residents' or other jobs that are stressful
and anxiety-inducing because your ability to do your job _correctly and
quickly_ might mean someone else dies, or the success of the company rests on
your performance, perhaps I'd take the article seriously. But actors and
musicians? Sure, messing up means failure, and failure might mean lost
contracts, disappointed fans, and having to let go of the great team of people
that got you to success. But anxiety driven by success is not the 'company'
that most people can relate to. It's having to perform duties that are _put
upon you_ by your job, society, and family that are hardest to deal with. If
you're good at these things, you will be successful. But the long road to
success is the hard part which causes most people anxiety. Not already
achieving it like musicians and actors have. That's a different type of
anxiety that most people can't relate to.

~~~
the_watcher
I'm sure you don't intend this, but this reads like you misunderstand the
anxiety of many of us fundamentally: it's not rational. The fundamental
hardship of anxiety for many of us is that we know that it's not rational, and
can reason out why it shouldn't be causing such an extreme reaction, yet that
doesn't remove the feeling where everything is closing in on you.

> not the 'company' that most people can relate to.

Putting a face to someone else who is struggling with the same issue is very
helpful to a lot of us. And while I understand the point you are raising, I
can't begrudge the author for not knowing someone I personally know to name
here. If this were a profile of someone specific being used to highlight
anxiety, then you'd have a point, but this is just a single sentence intended
to offer faces familiar to the maximum number of readers.

~~~
degenerate
Points very well taken, thanks for offering a different perspective.

------
ZoF
This article seems to be about a correlation between anxiety and right wing
views, which is fine, but obviously not the whole story; generally speaking
the opposite is more likely if we're talking anxiety disorders, not just
general anxiety[0].

The single anecdote of 'conservatives look at offensive pictures more
frequently' is extrapolated to mean that they are irrationally anxious about
the future. This is not to mention that this entire line of reasoning is based
on the premise that conservatives are looking at 'aversive images' out of
fear/anxiety.

There is nothing wrong with rational fear of future possibilities, it is an
important and integral aspect of how we make decisions about the future.

[0]-[http://neuropolitics.org/Anxiety-Depression-and-Goal-
Seeking...](http://neuropolitics.org/Anxiety-Depression-and-Goal-Seeking-in-
Conservatives-Liberals-Moderates.htm)

------
dwaltrip
I was surprised the article didn't mention mindfulness. I've found it can
provide a strong foundation for rebuffing anxiety.

------
amelius
Here's a better article which describes how anxiety can change your
perception: [1]

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depersonalization](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depersonalization)

~~~
heimatau
Yes. I've been reading/doing a workbook [1] to help improve my anxiety
symptoms. In addition to depersonalization, it teaches cognitive reappraisal
[2]. They are both helping me a great deal.

[1] -
[https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/160623918X/ref=oh_aui_sear...](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/160623918X/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1)

[2] -
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_reappraisal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_reappraisal)

------
don_draper
It's interesting to me that fear (even paranoia) was useful for our species
for a long time. But now in modern society it actually is used against us.

------
jokoon
I know a guy who often talks about conspiracy. I would not be surprised to
hear that he has acute anxiety issues.

There are mentally sane people who commit crimes because of their belief
system, but anxiety could seem to explain why they would go so far with their
belief.

For example I don't really like capitalism and i prefer socialism, but those
are just ideas, i use them with caution.

------
projektir
I'd like to see more discussion about anxiety being fairly justified even in
the modern world. Not necessarily useful, but also not unfounded.

The right wing lean surprises me. I guess it depends on where your anxiety is
focused on. I'm much more anxious about systems, mobs, and the economy than
terrorists.

~~~
cylinder
Our lifestyles, particularly in major cities, seem to demand constant anxiety
by their very nature. I could certainly envision building a city from the
ground up that reduces anxiety.

~~~
Grishnakh
>I could certainly envision building a city from the ground up that reduces
anxiety.

Any concrete examples of what you'd do to achieve this?

The only things I can think of offhand are 1) instituting a UBI so people
don't have so much financial stress and poverty is alleviated and 2)
implanting a very efficient public transit system like SkyTran so that people
can get around quickly and reliably.

~~~
projektir
A big driver of anxiety for me is bureaucracy. Forms on top of forms, all
sorts of appointments, and lack of properly aligned 9 to 5 time to attend to
them.

------
hosh
This article is interesting to think about alongside:
[http://www.vox.com/platform/amp/first-
person/2016/9/27/13062...](http://www.vox.com/platform/amp/first-
person/2016/9/27/13062230/poor-college-scholarship-opportunity)

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12606829](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12606829)

That is the HN posting of an article about how the poverty mindset still
persists.

------
nishac
While differentiating between "good" and "bad" images may seem like an idea
that has potential to work, I think it may be pointless to device obvious ways
to use placebo effects on the brain. I think training yourself to think
critically reduces the chance of your brain falling for poorly-designed
tricks.

The biggest takeaway from the article for me was simply the fact that anxiety
drastically changes your reality. That is both motivation to find ways to
curtail the anxiety even if it hasn't scientifically proven to be "curable"
and reason to believe that the anxious brain is not "defective" but has simply
been made to focus on the wrong set of thoughts. Here are some ways I dealt
with it:

1\. I changed my area of research (I am a grad student). 2\. I got out of a
bad relationship.

I said the above to point out the fact that the anxiety may have such
blatantly obvious causes for some people. It really helps to sit down and
identify each scenario that makes you anxious and try to understand what you
can change about your life (no matter how overwhelmingly drastic the change
is) to react more calmly in each of these situations. For example, I had
terrible (and still have but more mildly) anxiety in moving vehicles and my
heart races and ugly panic grips me, when the vehicle accelerates. I never
stopped to think what was causing it because my hypersensitive brain refused
to think deeply during travel time and even after because simulating travel
was enough to trigger it.

I made myself believe that making said dramatic changes in my life would
reduce the impact of the motion-stimulated anxiety. I figured that when panic
struck me on the bus, I would tell myself that if I could transform my life or
at least try my hardest to, I could get over this meaningless panic.

That's how I manage each situation that causes anxiety: by rationalizing as
best as I can, by identifying the root causes of my panic and by attacking
those root causes with logic. I think this requires strength and
unfortunately, I could find no easier way to make myself feel better. For
example, talking to a therapist or transferring the anxiety to/hoping for
support from people I loved turned out to be much less effective.

Then again, anxiety is very common so panicking at the panic is the first such
scenario that must be rationalized away. We do a lot of hard things in
everyday life for the purposes of leading a fuller life. Until such a time as
a reliable map of the brain is drawn and effective, scientific, non-intrusive
ways to change our perception emerge (which may not happen in our lifetimes),
establishing a camaraderie with the stubborn brain, through patient
rationalization, may be all we have.

This is just my opinion and I really hope it helps someone like me.

~~~
devilsavocado
Try this right now: Pick an emotion. Fear, anger, etc. Now, using logic, make
yourself feel that emotion. How did it go? I picked fear. I reasoned myself
into feeling a little bit worried, but I sure didn't experience actual fear.
So why do we think we can reason ourselves out of emotions?

Something that has been helpful for me is the idea of the 'Wise' mind. How
individuals deal with experience like anxiety (or anything else) falls on a
spectrum. On one end is the 'logical' mind, much like you described. On the
other is the 'emotional' mind. In the middle is the Wise mind. I spent most of
my life far into the logical side of the spectrum, and the most useful thing
I've ever done for my anxiety is shifting more into the center.

Most of your post focuses on training yourself to think critically and using
logic to treat anxiety. I've spent many years working on my anxiety with
various techniques and therapists. The common factor among all the things that
did help was that you can't just use logical thinking to fix anxiety! We may
use logic all day at work to fix problems, but you simply cannot reason
yourself out of experiencing anxiety.

Emotions play a huge role in anxiety and really cannot be ignored or just
reasoned away. They need to be experienced. They need to be felt and
expressed. And once they are, logic is a useful tool, as you said, to dive
into them and think more about why you are feeling that way.

This is also my opinion, and I'm glad you have the logical portion figured
out. But please don't ignore the illogical, emotional aspect. It's trickier
and messier, but it can be figured out.

~~~
Domenic_S
Here's where I found logic _does_ help:

1) Acknowledging that you're not the only one battling anxiety (makes you feel
not so alone)

2) Realizing that the negative feelings will pass (whether through pharmacy or
death -- nothing's forever)

3) (useful for GAD/agoraphobia) Asking "what's the worst that can happen [if I
have anxiety/a panic attack]?" and following that to its truthful, logical
end. Unless you're a pilot or tightrope walker, the answer is usually nothing,
which takes off some stress and helps.

4) Recognizing automatic thoughts and discarding them. Anxiety is often marked
by runaway "snowball" thoughts (my cat is meowing funny, he must be sick, the
vet will find cancer, the treatment will bankrupt me, I'll get fired, I'll be
homeless, I'm going to die under a bridge). Practicing recognizing the start
of those thoughts and intentionally saying, "nope, that isn't true or helpful"
and guiding your mind elsewhere helps greatly. This often becomes second
nature after a time.

Like you said, there is a continuum. Our thoughts influence our feelings, and
our feelings influence our thoughts.

~~~
devilsavocado
Sounds right to me. Worded differently, #4 is the basis of Cognitive
behavioral therapy. Except you can't quite just 'discard' thoughts, but I get
your point.

------
known
Discrimination affects biological processes such as stress hormones and sleep,
which are important for health and daily performance
[http://qz.com/334366/why-black-americans-cant-sleep-at-
night...](http://qz.com/334366/why-black-americans-cant-sleep-at-night-
racism/)

------
sundvor
Poisonous spiders? Interesting article though.

------
watermoose
This is an article essentially about how anxiety affects political views, so
here's my experience on that matter.

I'm an independent that leans conservative especially on fiscal but also
somewhat on social issues, and I know that my worry plays a part in it.

I've voted for independents, Libertarians, Republicans, and Democrats in past
presidential elections, and plan to vote Democrat this year, and I will do so
because of my worry about the Republican candidate. This candidate is
unpredictable, and is focused on the wrong side of issues that I care about.
I'm a compassionate person, and the candidate is not. I'm also a Christian,
and the candidate is the antithesis of the behavior and goals I would hope to
have in my country's leader. And of course, I think that a woman should have a
chance at leading our country, even if she's not the one that I'd chose
typically. So, my anxiety will play a part in the election, but not in the way
this article would suggest.

~~~
Kenji
_And of course, I think that a woman should have a chance at leading our
country, even if she 's not the one that I'd chose typically._

This I find the worst argument for her presidency imaginable. "I am so
virtuous and anti-sexist that I prefer the female candidate for being female"
It's pure sexism. You stop being sexist when you leave the gender out of the
equation. Completely.

~~~
nxc18
The trouble is that so many people use that argument while completely ignoring
their own biases.

E.g. "I don't care that she's a woman, but she just doesn't look
presidential."

"I just don't trust her, she's too shrill." "I just don't trust her, she's too
quiet."

Look at all the media attention to her hair, her outfits, her skin, etc and
you see that she's treated fundamentally differently than a male candidate.

The presidency has been held by a male exclusively for so long that voters
don't know what a female president looks like. When so many (shockingly many)
people vote on gut, instinct, or just their emotion, taking the time to
acknowledge bias is a useful step.

~~~
efvxcgci
_> Look at all the media attention to her hair, her outfits, her skin, etc_

Strange comment to make considering the constant articles and social media
posts about Trump's hair, Trump's orange skin, and Trump's little hands, plus
the widespread coverage of the naked Trump painting _and_ naked Trump statue
that were created to mock his weight and body parts.

~~~
smallnamespace
Trump invites that sort of coverage by being a thin-skinned, narcissistic
buffoon who thinks he's above everyone else.

Case in point: The whole 'small hands' thing would've blown over if Trump had
ignored it, but he couldn't help himself:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuSdCXmDOus](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuSdCXmDOus)

------
solson
This is complete bullshit.

As a moderately anxious person I have a completely different internal
experience on an American subway vs. one in Tokyo. I have almost no anxiety in
Tokyo. Why? it is one of the safest big cities in the world. Theft, terrorism,
assault, and general creepiness are almost non-existent and everyone knows it
and behaves accordingly.

In contrast, you have to be much more aware on American mass transit to avoid
problems. American mass transit is far more dangerous than in Tokyo and it is
almost instantly apparent to anyone paying attention. You'd be a fool not have
situational awareness on an American subway because there is a higher
probability of personal harm.

~~~
PavlovsCat
> In contrast, you have to be much more aware on American mass transit to
> avoid problems.

Okay, but does that have to translate into anxiousness? Paying attention to
things, even looking out for potential risks, doesn't have to feel negative
IMHO.

Consider the difference between " _hmm, that guy seems to be on drugs and
could be armed, I wonder if I 'll only get wounded, or if he'll actually kill
me_" and thinking, as you slightly shift position to something more useful
while pretending to not notice the person you're bracing yourself for: "
_okay, so when this guy thinks he 's attacking me from behind, as I watch his
reflection in the window, and just before I ram my heel into his nutsack with
the force of a thousand subway trains: which one of these people, who will all
no doubt fawn over my heroic move and rush over to see if I'm okay, will I
grin at, look deeply in the eye and ask out for dinner?_".

It's the same situation, just day dreaming near an unarmed guy who won't do
anything; but one actually gives you energy, the other drains it, for no
purpose. Of course the example is exaggerated, but still, being scared doesn't
help you at all, some might even say that's exactly what would attract an
evildoer, like blood in the water attracts piranhas. They want victims, not
challenges.

IMHO anxiety isn't a defense mechanism, it's a leak, an inefficiency. I don't
know if the word comes from "angst", but fear and angst are two very different
things. That is, one is a thing, the other is just a black hole which can
swallow up all sorts of things. I don't mean this in a finger waggling kind of
way, but more in a "you deserve even better" sort of way. I have sympathy for
anxious people, but not for anxiety, I think it's a poison.

All the best for you and all, if nothing else, take it in that spirit. _(I 'm
correct though :P)_

~~~
dannypgh
Either of your scenarios sound like anxiety to me. To me, not being anxious
means 1. being aware that the chances of something going bad are very small,
and 2. recognizing that worrying about it is usually not productive at best,
harmful at worst. In short I think you should aim to go from constantly
developing and updating a plan as to what to do if stranger attacks you, to
trusting yourself to be able to develop and execute a plan should the need
arise, and not spending time and energy worrying about it before then.

I think the non-anxious thing is to lazily initialize your defense mechanisms
/ responses to most would-be threats.

I didn't realize the extent of my anxiety until a bunch of months ago, when I
had a small dose of lorazepam. Suddenly, the inner voice in my head that when
riding in a car would usually be worrying "what if we crash or are pulled over
right now" for the duration of the ride was replaced with "ah, there's a
chance we might crash or be pulled over, but that chance is small, and
worrying about it now isn't going to impact it, so instead I'll let my mind
work on imagining what I could do with my free time tomorrow." It was quite
the difference.

Benzos are super addictive drugs and I wouldn't want to develop a habit (or
encourage their use lest others develop a habit), but seeing the contrast
motivated me to work on mindfulness and exercise to decrease my anxiety
levels.

~~~
PavlovsCat
Fair point, I got carried away a bit there :)

