Relaxation Makes Worriers More Anxious

Islamabad (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 20th October, 2019) Some people become more anxious as they attempt to relax because relaxing interrupts their worrying, according to new research.A new study concludes that, in these people, relaxation conflicts with a strategy that they employ to lessen the impact of negative events: continual worrying.The authors of the study were Michelle Newman, a professor of psychology, and Hanjoo Kim, a graduate student in psychology, both at Penn State University, in College Park, PA.Why worry?In 2011, Prof.

Newman developed the theory of "contrast avoidance." She explains, "The theory revolves around the idea that people may make themselves anxious intentionally, as a way to avoid the letdown they might get if something bad were to happen."Worrying is, according to this theory, essentially an attempt to "pay in advance" for something that may happen.Studying relaxation in people with anxietySince the 1980s, the medical community has recognized the existence of relaxation-induced anxiety, although the mechanism behind it has been a mystery, according to Prof.

Newman.

She suspected that contrast avoidance may be involved.As the researchers explain in their paper:The team worked with 96 college students in the new study. This included 32 participants with generalized anxiety disorder and 34 with major depressive disorder.

Thirty participants without the disorders served as a control group.Hoping to identify any lingering beneficial emotional effects of the relaxation exercises, the researchers then administered questionnaires to each participant.

The responses, the researchers hoped, would also reveal levels of sensitivity to the emotional shifts elicited by the videos.The value of the researchThe insights presented in the study suggest that people living with generalized anxiety disorder may benefit from follow-on research.Kim suspects that "Measuring relaxation-induced anxiety and implementing exposure techniques targeting the desensitization of negative contrast sensitivity may help patients reduce this anxiety."In addition, notes Prof.

Newman, "Mindfulness training and other interventions can help people let go and live in the moment."