Does Anxiety Make You Believe Things That Are Not?

Anxiety can be associated with negative thoughts. It is a natural response of the body to stress, but when it becomes chronic or excessive, can affect the way you perceive the world and process the information. People who experience anxiety often have negative, catastrophic, or irrational thoughts.

Some examples of negative thoughts associated with anxiety include excessive worries about the future fear of the unknown, anticipation of the worst, intense self-criticism and constant doubts. These thoughts can be automatic and difficult to control for those who suffer from anxiety. If this happens to you, here we explain how to eliminate negative thoughts.

Anxiety makes you believe things that are not true, that is, it influences the way you perceive and process information in various ways, which in turn can lead you to believe things that are not true. To better understand this phenomenon, below we explain why anxiety makes you believe things that are not:

• Cognitive distortions: Anxiety is often associated with cognitive distortions, which are inaccurate or biased patterns of thinking. These can include irrational thoughts such as catastrophizing (anticipating the worst), overgeneralization (extrapolating a negative event to all areas of life), polarized thinking (seeing things in black or white terms), and other cognitive biases that affect the interpretation of reality.
• Hypervigilance: People with anxiety are more alert and sensitive to signs of danger or threat, even when there are no real threats. This hypervigilance can lead to incorrectly interpreting neutral or even positive situations as threatening. It is a defense mechanism that people adopt to survive situations that they consider dangerous.
• Absence of criteria: People with high levels of anxiety do not process the data provided by the environment in an adequate way. Consequently, they generalize a problem and extend it to all types of particular situations. For example, if someone has had a poor job performance and has been fired from their job, they might feel anxious about believing that the same sequence will be repeated in other work environments.
• Confirmation bias: Anxious people tend to pay more attention to information that supports their anxious beliefs and ignore information that contradicts them. To understand it better, don’t miss this article on Confirmation Bias.

Managing irrational or negative thoughts caused by anxiety can be challenging, but there are several strategies that can help you manage them more effectively. Here we bring you some suggestions:

• Mindfulness: Mindfulness involves being present in the current moment without judging. Practicing mindfulness can help you observe your thoughts from a more objective perspective, without getting caught up in them. To put it into practice, it is essential to have a relaxed environment away from distractions. If you want to know more about this practice, don’t miss this article on Mindfulness: what it is and how it is practiced.
• Talk to someone you trust – Share your thoughts with friends, family, or a mental health professional. Sometimes talking about your concerns can provide additional perspectives and emotional support.
• Writing: Putting into words what worries you is a way to calm anxiety. In this sense, writing establishes an appropriate distance between negative thoughts and real life situations. Furthermore, writing on a piece of paper or an electronic device helps relieve tension as it allows for a more realistic view.
• Psychological therapy: Going to a mental health professional is one of the best decisions when anxiety makes you believe things that are not. A therapist can work with you to explore and address the underlying causes of anxiety and provide you with specific strategies to address anxiety symptoms.

This article is merely informative, at PsychologyFor we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.

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