Learning Theory and the Roots of Anxiety
In the previous article, we looked at behaviourism and how avoidance can become part of an anxiety maintenance cycle. This article explores the learning principles behind that process.
You may remember that behaviourism focuses on how our actions are shaped by their consequences. Learning theory goes a step further by explaining how these patterns form and become automatic. It helps us understand why certain experiences come to feel frightening and how those associations are strengthened or weakened over time. [...]
Behaviourism and Maintenance Cycles
When people experience anxiety, their behaviour is often shaped by powerful patterns that develop without conscious awareness. These patterns can quietly sustain anxiety in much the same way that thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations interact in a maintenance cycle. This article adds a fourth element, behaviour, to that picture, showing how what we do or avoid doing can keep anxiety alive.
When we feel anxious, our minds and bodies are flooded with sensations that are uncomfortable. Our natural instinct is to move away from things that feel punishing and towards things that feel safe or pleasant. Behaviourism, a branch of psychology that studies how behaviour is learned, helps us understand this process [...]
Understanding Maintenance Cycles in Anxiety
When a person suffers from recurrent, pervasive anxiety, it often continues through invisible patterns that quietly sustain it. These are known as maintenance cycles, repeating loops in which thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations influence one another and keep the experience of anxiety alive and growing.
Anxiety is not a single process that happens only in the mind. It involves the whole system: how we think, what we feel, and how the body reacts to these thoughts and feelings. A shift in one area can lead to changes in the others. Over time, these interactions can form a cycle that repeats itself automatically, making anxiety seem ever-present, unpredictable, and uncontrollable [...]
Anxiety and the Urge to Google: When Searching Becomes Reassurance
Most of us turn to Google when we want quick answers. A sore throat, a strange sensation, or a burst of worry can send us straight to the search bar. For people living with anxiety, this urge to “Google it” can become a daily cycle. While it feels like a way of finding certainty, it often fuels more fear in the long run.Health anxiety, OCD, and generalised anxiety disorder often involve a powerful need for reassurance. Searching online provides a fast hit of temporary relief: “If I can just find the right answer, I’ll feel better.” But that relief rarely lasts. Instead, one search leads to another, and the more you read, the more frightening possibilities you encounter. Google cannot tell you whether you are truly safe, it can only offer endless scenarios. [...]
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