Going Down the Anxiety Rabbit Hole

Ever notice that when one anxiety thought happens, not far behind it is another one?  And then after those first two anxiety thoughts all of a sudden it feels like you are thinking about everything that makes you feel anxious and then possibly thinking about every mistake that you’ve ever made and maybe then even every possible thing that you have ever done wrong and then maybe now you start having thoughts about what a terribly, horrible, absolutely awful person you are?  You have entered the anxiety rabbit hole.

Anxiety thoughts very rarely come just one at a time.  Unfortunately, the more time we spend on anxiety thinking the more anxious we are apt to feel.  Coping and dealing with anxiety can involve a lot of time spent on managing anxiety thinking with the crux being getting yourself fully out of your head.  Sometimes in counseling we call this getting out of your head and back into your body and is why we spend a lot of session time on strategies such as breathing, grounding, and movement-based skills.  Anxiety feeds off of your worry thoughts and uses these to grow into more powerful monsters.  Keeping yourself out of the anxiety rabbit hole then becomes the goal for the game.

How?  Well, that’s a great question!  The first step is being able to recognize when it is happening.  You need to know your pattern.  Where does your thought hole begin?  What are the thoughts along the edges and what are the ones that make you know you have completely arrived at the bottom of the rabbit hole?  Understanding your process lets you be able to recognize it when it is happening which gives you a better shot at being able to employ coping skills before anxiety has a chance to really get a foothold in your moment.

You also need to spend some time developing a solid set (yes, set) of coping skills.  You cannot rely on just one alone.  You will absolutely have one or two coping skills that become your go-to’s or favorites.  That’s okay.  But you want to have a whole toolbox full for a couple of reasons.  Mainly, some coping skills will not be available in all situations.  For example, people often use music as a method for coping with anxiety and this is a great coping skill to be able to have!  Unfortunately, there are certain settings where listening to music is not allowed or maybe the battery died on your phone or other device which means no music.  What do you do now if music is your only coping skill?  Well, if music is your only coping skill in these situations you are up the proverbial creek without said paddle.  But, if you have another coping skill ready to go then you can use that alternative.  Where music is not available, maybe doodling is or a breathing strategy that helps. 

Another reason to have multiple coping skills ready to go is that sometimes the level of anxiety we are feeling will require us to use more than one coping skill to get us back to calm just like we use layers of clothing to keep us comfortable in different weather situations.  Maybe you start by taking a deep breath, wiggling your fingers and toes, and then put on your calm down playlist.  With each tool, you bring your self closer and closer to calm. 

Going down the anxiety rabbit hole is not a pleasant experience.  It is also the hallmark of the experience of anxiety thinking.  When you become more familiar with what is happening, you gain the ability to help yourself be able to know and put into action what to do about it.