Avoiding Emotional Pain: Why It Worsens Anxiety
Avoiding emotionally triggering or uncomfortable topics is a natural protective instinct. Initially, this avoidance feels safe because it temporarily reduces distress. However, psychological research indicates that habitual avoidance can actually intensify trauma and anxiety symptoms over time (Foa, Huppert, & Cahill, 2006).
The Cycle of Avoidance
Avoidance is self-reinforcing. It provides immediate relief from anxiety, reinforcing the behavior of avoidance itself. Each time a trigger is avoided, the brain learns that avoidance is necessary for safety, making it harder to confront these emotions in the future. This can perpetuate anxiety and make the original fears seem even more threatening (Tull, Gratz, Salters, & Roemer, 2004).
Inhibition of Emotional Processing
Avoidance hinders emotional processing, a crucial step in healing from trauma or reducing anxiety. Emotional processing theory (Foa & Kozak, 1986) suggests that fear must be confronted and emotionally processed to decrease its intensity. When avoided, emotions remain unprocessed, preserving their original power and making recovery difficult (Ehlers & Clark, 2000).
Cognitive theories of PTSD further emphasize that avoidance prevents challenging and updating negative beliefs associated with trauma, such as feelings of helplessness or danger (Ehlers & Clark, 2000).
Long-Term Consequences of Avoidance
Persistent avoidance can result in several adverse outcomes:
Intensified Symptoms: Avoidance maintains or even exacerbates anxiety and PTSD symptoms (Şalcioğlu, Başoğlu, & Livanou, 2007).
Emotional Numbing: Chronic avoidance may lead to emotional numbness, preventing enjoyment and reducing meaningful social connections (Tull et al., 2004).
Negative Self-beliefs: Avoidance reinforces the belief that one is incapable of handling difficult emotions, reducing self-efficacy and increasing feelings of helplessness.
Broader Issues: Avoidance may lead to maladaptive coping strategies like substance abuse or isolation, compounding psychological distress.
Facing Discomfort as a Path to Healing
Effective treatments for anxiety and trauma emphasize confronting rather than avoiding triggers. Exposure therapies, including cognitive-behavioral techniques, guide individuals to safely face and process fears, allowing the emotional intensity to decrease through repeated, controlled exposure (Foa et al., 2006).
Acceptance-based therapies, such as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), encourage individuals to accept uncomfortable emotions rather than avoid them. Acceptance does not imply approval of the discomfort, but recognition that experiencing discomfort is part of meaningful living and emotional healing.
Becoming Comfortable with Being Uncomfortable
Ultimately, the path to emotional resilience and recovery involves becoming comfortable with discomfort. Gradually learning to tolerate anxiety and emotional pain leads to reduced emotional intensity and greater psychological freedom. Avoidance may promise short-term relief but inevitably leads to prolonged emotional struggles. Embracing discomfort, although challenging initially, is the essential step toward meaningful, lasting healing.
References
Ehlers, A., & Clark, D. M. (2000). A cognitive model of posttraumatic stress disorder. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 38(4), 319–345.
Foa, E. B., & Kozak, M. J. (1986). Emotional processing of fear: Exposure to corrective information. Psychological Bulletin, 99(1), 20–35.
Foa, E. B., Huppert, J. D., & Cahill, S. P. (2006). Emotional processing theory: An update. In B. O. Rothbaum (Ed.), Pathological anxiety: Emotional processing in etiology and treatment (pp. 3–24). Guilford Press.
Şalcioğlu, E., Başoğlu, M., & Livanou, M. (2007). Long-term psychological outcome for torture survivors in Turkey: The role of coping mechanisms. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 116(3), 693–703.
Tull, M. T., Gratz, K. L., Salters, K., & Roemer, L. (2004). The role of experiential avoidance in posttraumatic stress symptoms and symptoms of depression, anxiety, and somatization. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 192(11), 754–761.
