anticipatory anxiety

Information on Anticipatory Anxiety

What is it?

Anticipatory anxiety is where a person experiences increased levels of anxiety by thinking about an event or situation in the future. It can be extremely draining for people as it can last for months prior to an occasion. The worries people experience specifically focus on what they think might happen, often with catastrophic predictions about the event. If a person magnifies the negative possibilities about an event in their mind to the point that they become a disaster then their anxiety level will increase. The nature of negative predictions about the event will be the difference between an anxiety level that is incapacitating or merely uncomfortable. Anticipatory anxiety has many of the characteristics of generalised anxiety: increase of attention, apprehension, restlessness and avoidance. During anticipatory anxiety a person's body may be habitually tense, waiting for the event. This can also have a disabling effect, since having a tense body may actually lead to problems such as hyperventilation, chest pain and muscle spasm. Anticipatory anxiety may also shape behavior (i.e. decisions about how to behave, what to say, where to go, etc., in hopes of avoiding a return of symptoms). At lower levels this fear is referred to as ordinary “worry;” at higher levels it may become so intense that it can be called “anticipatory panic.”

Common conditions that have a component of anticipatory anxiety include, panic (with common predictions regarding a fear of having a further attack, fainting or dying), social phobia (with predictions about saying or doing something embarrassing, e.g. blushing, sweating or saying the wrong thing), before public speaking (for example, forgetting what they are saying) and generalised anxiety (with negative worry or fears about the future). Anticipatory anxiety may cause problems in relationships with others, since people are often preoccupied with the thought of the feared event. It can also affect a person's ability to concentrate, which may prevent them from working to their full potential, or enjoying favorite activities.

DIY Self diagnosis

If you can answer YES to most of the questions it is likely that you are affected by that condition.

  • Do you experience feelings of tension and anxiety in the build up to an event?
  • Do you have images or negative predictions about what may happen at this event?
  • Do you sometimes avoid events or situations because of the increased anxiety they provoke?

ANXIETY UK strongly advises that people seek further information and guidance from their GP who will be able to make a formal diagnosis.

Want to know more

See also information on related problems; GAD, Panic disorder, Social phobia.

Top five tips for dealing with Anticipatory Anxiety:

  • Exercise! When we exercise it burns up the extra adrenaline produced when we are feeling anxious.
  • Distract Yourself! If you can find a task to occupy yourself in the short term this can reduce anxiety and occupy your mind, e.g. doing a crossword, counting (this is not a long term solution, however).
  • Do some relaxation! Yoga, breathing exercises and listening to music are all good ways to decrease you physical anxiety symptoms.
  • Try an experiment! See if you can postpone your worry to a set time in the day, it can help you feel that you are more in control of when you worry- rather than letting it take over your day.
  • Look at the evidence! Ask yourself ‘What's the best that could happen, the worst that could happen and what is the most likely thing that will happen?’. What could you do to cope if the worst did happen?

Personal experiences

Do you suffer from anticipatory anxiety and want to share your experience with other people? Send us your experience and we will put selected ones here.

For the past 15 years I have worked in a casino both as a croupier and at a managerial level, however it wasn't the managerial post which caused me the anticipatory anxiety, it was when I was a croupier.

It used to begin a few hours before I was due to begin my shift at work, with butterfly feelings occurring in the pit of my stomach, an increased body temperature which got progressively more intense the closer I was to starting my shift. Once at work the feelings of anxiety increased tremendously whilst I waited to be assigned to a gaming table and my hands and underarms used to sweat excessively. The butterfly feeling used to make me feel almost nauseous at times. Once on the table and dealing the games to the customers the feelings subsided considerably if I didn't make any mistakes. However as many of the customers within the casino are extremely experienced gamblers and know the bet calculations almost instantaneously, there is a considerable amount of pressure on you to get it right first time; if you don't the anxiety takes over once more. For me it was almost like my brain used to switch off creating an even bigger feeling of anxiety which made me feel at times like I just wanted to run away from the situation. Furthermore the added pressure of customers looking at you and perhaps thinking that you weren't particularly competent at your job just seemed to justify my fear. It also didn't seem to matter how much experience I had, I still seemed to experience anxiety in anticipation of commencing a shift.

The type of event that I anxiously anticipate usually has a social element; something where I will have to interact with people. My heart rate increases quite dramatically; I feel dizzy, queasy in my stomach and my hands feel shaky. I find it very hard to concentrate and feel ‘not there’ - as though a large part of me has already made its escape. Time seems to drag and drag and I just want to be somewhere safe on my own. I know I'm exhibiting avoidant behaviour at the time and I don't care because the developing sense of terror is greater than the feelings of failure later for letting the anxiety get the better of me. I tell myself; some people aren't meant to do some things.

The moment I know that I have to travel somewhere which is beyond my ‘safe zone’ I immediately feel a sense of dread which starts in my stomach and progresses upwards through my body. I feel as if I need the toilet and I cannot seem to get the constant sense of worry out of my mind. I imagine myself on the journey being encompassed by an overwhelming sense of panic which renders me incapacitated. In fact I have all kinds of images in my mind about what will happen to me. By the time the day that I am due to travel arrives, I have literally gone through every possible negative scenario that could happen on the journey and my anxiety levels are sky high. Often the anxiety involved with thinking through what might happen is so intense and severe that I am ultimately unable to travel. I am left defeated and feel angry with myself for yet again, letting my anxiety win.

After recently changing my job role I noticed that leaving the comfort zone after so many years also brought back some old anxiety problems.

These anxiety problems at their worst would lead to panic attacks. How it originally started I really don't know, but I have a feeling it goes back many years ago to when I was ill from a mosquito bite and was in quite a bad state. What I noticed was a fear of upcoming events like going out on a date, going away with friends for the weekend, customer meetings and interviews. It started to rule my personal life in such a big way that someone close to me insisted that I speak to a cognitive therapist as soon as possible. Although very strange having to open up, I did that and it made a difference. The therapist said it will probably never actually go away but it's about managing it, and kind of learning to live with it too. She noticed there were a lot of contradictions in my life too which I agreed with. On the one hand quite ambitious and on the other hand trying to remove the stress. We also discussed about the body's physical reactions to stress and how to breath correctly. She explained that the gas build up in the chest area I got was a typical reaction. She also showed me some deep relaxation techniques which allowed me to completely detach from a situation. That was almost 5 years ago and it improved a lot afterwards. Lately I would say it's creeping back as a natural reaction to change and at times preventing me from using my natural abilities in a new job role and sometimes from concentrating. It may be worth pointing out that I work using a foreign language, not English. If anyone out there has suffered from anticipatory anxiety then you have my 100% sympathy, I know all about it, what a game.

Rich