Understanding the Cycle of Anxiety

By Emma Dall, Taproot Therapy Clinical Trainee
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Anxiety is something everyone experiences. It can show up before an important presentation, when we are faced with uncertainty, or when something feels outside of our control. In many situations, anxiety serves an important purpose: it warns us of potential threats and prepares our bodies to respond.

However, anxiety can sometimes become a cycle that feels difficult to break. We may begin avoiding situations, seeking reassurance, or trying to control our thoughts and feelings to try and feel better. While these strategies can provide temporary relief, they may unintentionally reinforce anxiety over time. Understanding how this cycle works can be an important first step toward changing it.

What Is the Anxiety Cycle?The anxiety cycle often follows a pattern:
Trigger → Anxious Thoughts → Physical Symptoms → Avoidance or Safety Behaviors → Short-Term Relief → Increased Anxiety
The cycle can look different for everyone, but this underlying sequence is often the same.

1. A TriggerThe cycle typically begins with a trigger. A trigger can be an external situation, such as an upcoming exam, social event, doctor's appointment, or difficult conversation. It can also be something internal, such as a physical sensation, memory, or thought. For example, imagine a student who has an upcoming exam. Simply thinking about the exam may be enough to trigger anxiety.

2. Anxious ThoughtsAfter a trigger, our brains may begin to interpret the situation as threatening. We might start imagining everything that could go wrong or underestimate our ability to cope. The student might think, “What if I fail?” “I'm going to forget everything,” or “If I don't do well, everyone will think I'm stupid.” These thoughts can feel very convincing in the moment. The more attention we give them, the more threatening the situation may begin to feel.

3. Physical and Emotional SymptomsAnxious thoughts can activate the body's stress response. This may lead to symptoms such as a racing heart, sweaty palms, muscle tension, stomachaches, dizziness, difficulty concentrating, or feeling restless or on edge. Sometimes these physical sensations become a source of anxiety themselves. Someone might notice their heart racing and think, “Something is wrong with me,” which creates even more fear and increases the physical symptoms.

4. Avoidance and Safety BehaviorsWhen anxiety feels uncomfortable, it is natural to want to make it stop. One of the most common ways we do this is through avoidance. Avoidance might mean skipping a social event, putting off an assignment, not making a phone call, or avoiding situations that feel uncomfortable. Other times, we use what are called safety behaviors. These might include repeatedly checking, asking others for reassurance, over-preparing, or constantly looking for signs that everything will be okay. These behaviors can feel helpful because they reduce anxiety in the moment.

5. Short-Term ReliefWhen we avoid something or find a way to reduce uncertainty, our anxiety often decreases temporarily. That relief can feel like confirmation that we made the right choice. For example, if a student avoids studying because thinking about the exam feels overwhelming, they may initially feel much calmer. The brain can learn from this experience: “I felt anxious about the exam, I avoided thinking about it, and then I felt better.”

6. The Cycle ContinuesThe problem is that this short-term relief can reinforce the behavior. The next time a similar situation occurs, the brain may respond with even more anxiety because it has not had the opportunity to learn that the situation is manageable.
Over time, the avoidance cycle can become:
Anxiety → Avoidance → Relief → More Anxiety → More Avoidance
This is one reason anxiety can sometimes grow even when we are doing everything we can to avoid feeling anxious.

Breaking the CycleBreaking the anxiety cycle does not mean getting rid of anxiety altogether. Anxiety is a natural human emotion, and trying to eliminate every uncomfortable feeling can actually make anxiety more powerful. Instead, breaking the cycle often involves learning that we can experience anxiety without allowing it to determine what we do.
This might involve noticing anxious thoughts without automatically believing them, practicing coping skills when uncomfortable sensations arise, and gradually approaching situations that have been avoided. Over time, these experiences can help the brain learn that discomfort does not necessarily mean danger, and that we are often more capable of handling difficult situations than anxiety tells us.