BIPOC Anxiety Therapy in Los Angeles: Anxiety Cycle Part 2

The anxiety cycle can feel like a constant never ending loop. On the first post about the anxiety cycle, I talked about the different steps that are involved in this cycle to help with awareness. That this loop surrounds itself around negative thoughts that which keep us in it; the ‘what if’s’ and ‘what is the point.’ Part one focused on how to help you get more connected with this understanding of your individual anxiety.

This post focuses on why Anxiety’s best friend is AVOIDANCE and how it factors into the anxiety cycle. How does this information help? It helps you get to know your avoidance behaviors, to further increase your awareness around your anxiety and what to pay attention to in order to move forward with coping skills.

We want to know when anxiety is happening in order to cope with it. So, let’s talk about Avoidance.

Avoidance is defined as keeping away from or not doing something. When one is engaging in avoidance, this will be the whole day. You notice at the end of the day that you have not sat still, and the anxious feeling of uncertainty, wariness, and feeling on edge comes up. Thus, causing some trouble sleeping. It acts as a momentary relief and a bandaid.

BIPOC Anxiety Therapy in Los Angeles

Avoidance acts as a way to cope within the BIPOC community because it is all our parents have grown up with. It is the not being able to address feelings straight on, so tv, novelas, work, drama become the distractions to keep us away from facing scary emotions that we never grew up with knowing how to navigate. Our parents never grew up with understanding their emotions, so how could us as kids (now as adults) be aware we were in engaging in avoidance. How can we expect ourselves not to have anxiety when we do not have tools to face these scary emotions? We can not.

Do you notice throughout your day always doing something? Always trying to stay occupied? and when you are not occupied, it feels uncomfortable? Those exact activities are the ones that are keeping you within the anxiety cycle. They prevent you from staying present with your feelings and to acknowledge what is causing you to feel uneasy or unsteady. Thus, avoidance keeps you from moving forward into managing anxiety in healthier ways.

So, what can you do to help with your anxiety?

Along with the journaling prompts from the previous post of the anxiety cycle, you can identify situations where that feeling comes up. Making a list can help you identify activities you engage in to avoid uneasy feelings. From there, coping skills can then be integrated or maybe the thought of therapy feels a bit more doable and tolerable.

You get in touch with the origin of your anxiety and are guided out of this anxiety cycle through therapy. You get to understand why sitting with your emotions does not happen automatically. You gain insight into understanding your avoidance behaviors, why you engage in them, and overall into your anxiety. I hope this post helps you gain insight into what avoidance can look like for you and how it plays a role into your anxiety cycle. If you are ready to target the anxiety cycle, you can read more about how I can help here and schedule a free 15 minute phone consultation here.

I wish you good vibes in your healing journey!

Ligia Orellana, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist