Rational and Irrational Anxiety
A few years ago, when the movie musical “Cats” was released in cinemas, a popular meme template emerged, which can be seen below.
There were hundreds of these, all of which highlighted deliberately absurd anxieties (some of which were real). While these were all done for laughs, there is an underlying truth to the concept in that your anxieties may not be rational, but they are still very real. And in order to work with them, we must define what they are as dealing with them is very, very different.
This also begs the question, “What makes anxieties rational or irrational?”--as well as, “Does it matter if my anxiety is rational or irrational?” Both questions have several layers to dig through in order to answer. I’ll start with the question of what makes an anxiety rational or irrational? To determine, we would want to determine if the anxiety is plausible and is the anxiety likely? For a rancher living in South Dakota, an anxiety of being bitten by a rattlesnake is plausible. While it is not necessarily likely in the purest definition, it happens often enough to be a legitimate occupational hazard and would thus be defined generally as at least somewhat rational. However, if a New York Investment Banker had a fear of being bitten by a rattlesnake at their job, it is both not plausible or likely for that to happen, unless their boss is a James Bond villain.
How likely does something need to be in order to be considered rational? I am not an arbiter here, and the answer is somewhat fluid. One of the most common causes of injury in the US is car crashes, and estimates show that over 70% of drivers will get into an accident of some kind during their lifetime. Around 30% of drivers will be involved in a serious car accident. I think both of these numbers probably point to that fear as being at least somewhat rational. On the other hand, planes are significantly safer as a method of transportation and yet fear of flying is incredibly common. You have a higher chance of winning the lottery than you do getting into a plane crash. So, does this make a fear of flying irrational? Mathematically, yes, it technically would make that anxiety irrational. But that of course begs the question, does it even matter if an anxiety is rational or irrational?
As with many concepts in mental health, the answer is, unfortunately, it depends. I know this is a frustrating response. How we address anxieties can depend on that variable. For something wholly irrational, like the hypothetical investment banker afraid of rattlesnake bites, we might start by pointing out the logical fallacy. “Have you ever seen a rattlesnake at the office? Has an investment banker ever been bitten by a rattlesnake in the office?” and so on and so forth until they recognize that it is not something that is going to happen. I myself have used this technique myself to great effect in regard to minor issues. However, this does run into the problem that we, as humans, are not necessarily rational beings. I am a Milwaukee Brewers fan and I have, as recently as this most recent post season, changed which hat I wore during playoff games because I felt that a specific hat was unlucky. A Cubs fan in my life turned off game 7 of the world series in 2016 and instead refreshed the play-by-play on twitter because she felt that bad things happened when she watched it on tv. This person is a medical doctor who is one of the most logical and clear-thinking people I have ever met. We are not a logical species, and we create rituals that soothe us, even if we know them to be ridiculous.
So, what do we do about irrational anxiety or an unfalsifiable anxiety? For example, a common anxiety people will espouse is that they are anxious that their friends secretly hate them. This person may have a dozen close friends who love them and demonstrate that repeatedly, and yet the anxiety still lingers and often no amount of logic or aggressive rebuttal of the thoughts can break through. They still are stuck on the idea, and because we cannot ever really know what someone else is thinking, the premise itself is ultimately unfalsifiable. This is where psychodynamic therapy comes in. In these situations, the best solution is often a deep exploration of one’s innermost life with a therapist. Many of our anxieties and other maladaptive emptions are rooted in our childhoods and how we were raised, and uncovering those and making ourselves whole again in therapy will help alleviate the symptoms.
Finally, I would be remiss if I did not mention the giant elephant in the room here. What do we do with an anxiety that is real, rational, and not based on something from your past? The current political landscape has turned many irrational anxieties into anxieties that are both rational and very real. While these political problems were always a reality for many, the idea of “I will be unable to access abortion or reproductive care if I become pregnant” or “I am anxious I will be whisked away to a detention center without any due process based on the color of my skin” are more of a reality than they have ever been. To someone living with those anxieties it is insulting to suggest that they try to logic their way out of it, and while psychodynamic work may ease some of their fears, ultimately these are anxieties based on external conditions and the cause is known.
In these situations, there are a few things we can do. The first is to make a plan for what will happen and what you will do if it does. This is imperfect, but one of the best strategies for working on these sorts of anxieties is to have a plan in mind and to take action where we can. For example, if you are anxious about an election one of the best things you can do for that is to phonebank, canvas, or otherwise volunteer for the side you want to win, as it shifts your focus. However, once you are facing the anxieties that those sorts of actions don’t apply to, planning is the next best thing. To use a light example, in baseball a batter doesn’t know what pitch a pitcher is going to throw, but if they know what pitches is in a pitchers arsenal, and familiarize themself with how to hit each of them, they will be in a better place than they would if they just focused on the fact that they do not know what pitch is going to be thrown. Planning and knowledge help buttress us against the unknown. It does not solve the core issue of whatever the external pressure actually is, of course, but it helps set us on a path wherein the anxiety doesn’t control us, but rather our prepared response allows us to go about our lives in such a way that we can attempt to handle what is thrown at us.
At the end of the day, our anxieties are our own, and whether they are irrational, rational, real, imagined, or unfalsifiable does not really matter. They are real because we believe in them, and the only reason the type matters is that it affects how we work on treating them. And, of course, a trained therapist can help you work through them in a way that is healthy and affirming. You are not wrong for having an irrational anxiety, however you will feel better if you try to work on heading it off!
