Stress Anxiety & Anger

High stress can also lead to anxiety or anger

We have seen in the depression biology section how high stress levels can contribute to the depression habit spiral. For some people, this state of high stress can lead not only to low mood but also to anxiety and/or anger difficulties.

Anxiety and anger spirals

Anxious or angry habits can then entrench themselves in vicious cycles which contribute to the depression habit spiral. As with low mood and depression, anxiety and anger spirals are perpetuated by unhelpful thinking habits. They can also be entrenched through what you habitually do with the anxious or angry feelings.

More depressed thinking habits

The following are a few examples of further unhelpful habits which contribute to angry or anxious habit spirals, and therefore to the depression habit spiral.

1. Rule-bound thinking

   We all use a variety of "rules" or principles to guide our action and streamline thought processes. But unrealistically rigid ‘shoulds’ and ‘oughts’ set up stressful regular experiences of frustration and lack of control. This leads to angry or anxious feelings, which in turn intensify the wish for the world to operate according to clearer rules… When applied to your own behaviour, the habit of rule-bound thinking can lead to unhelpful self-bullying.

2. "Control freakery"

   Rule-bound thinking is closely linked to "control freakery", or the unrealistic attempt to keep rigid control over ourselves and outside events. Our attitude towards control is very commonly infected by unhelpful all-or-nothing thinking. Aiming for either ‘total control’ or ‘no control’ results in things being chaotically out of control, dramatically raising anxiety or anger levels. True control results from a flexible, relaxed and realistic approach.

3. Catastrophising

   Catastrophising is another extension of rule-bound thinking, when deviations from the rules or expectations are experienced as disasters. Thinking your life will be ruined because you fail one exam is an example of catastrophising. This habit is linked to perfectionism and other habits, like superstitious thinking, which are focused on trying to achieve an unrealistic level of control.

4. Hyper-vigilance

   Being appropriately aware of risks helps us to be sensibly cautious. But risks can't be totally eliminated from life. Over-focus on physical dangers such as plane crashes or psychological dangers such as rejection or criticism raises adrenalin levels without helping us to do anything about these dangers. Unrealistic risk aversion and hyper-vigilance can be reinforced in modern ‘blame’ culture (see page on depression-inducing society).

5. Avoidance

   Over-use of the "flight" response to stressful situations is a particularly risky habit. If you never give yourself the opportunity to face difficulties (for fear of failure), you give yourself instead a kind of ‘evidence’ that these difficulties can’t be faced. At its worst, this habit can lead to complete inertia or even agoraphobia (ie. being unable to go out).

Any of these sound familiar?

If you experience high levels of anxiety or anger, or if any of these habits sound familiar, it is especially important for you to learn about managing stress levels, as well as working on challenging these and other depressed thinking habits.

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