Risk of Anxiety May Increase Due to Being Judgemental

According to a recent study conducted by researchers of the Department of Psychology, University of Vermont who sought to find out the possible connection between anxiety and mindfulness skills.

The study used a sample of 154 young adults mostly in their early 20’s. In the study, researchers established a major connection between specific mindfulness skills and levels of high anxiety sensitivity and negative affectivity (neuroticism).

Basically, with increasing levels of anxiety experienced by a person, the lower is the ability to practice mindfulness skills. Particularly, negative affectivity results in higher difficulty with mindfulness skills like awareness, acceptance, and description. For a person suffering with anxiety, anxiety sensitivity makes it is particularly more difficult to apply skills of awareness and acceptance.

What happens when one does not practice mindful skills?

What does it mean? Fundamentally, mindfulness skills are ability of a person to stay in the present moment, evade harsh judgment of ourselves and of others, and proceed with careful consideration. In case a person does not have mindfulness skills, it could result in rash, unwanted behaviors, evading, and a general feeling of discontent. People suffering from anxiety usually to avoid such anxious feeling act out, abuse alcohol or drugs, over or under eat, overspend or indulge in many other negative coping behaviors since they are not aware of their feeling or do not have the capacity to bear with the anxious feelings they are experiencing. This could clearly result in negative outcomes.

Each one of us undergoes negative emotions. The difference between people suffering from anxiety disorders and people not suffering from anxiety disorders is that the former lack the mindfulness skills required to handle the negative emotions, identify them, process them, and handle it in healthy, self-reliant ways. Usually, anxiety is linked with avoidance which is the opposite of mindfulness, and could be ideally expressed as getting into bed and pulling the covers over the head. The higher levels of awareness (mindfulness) a person becomes of their negative emotions, the better will be their ability to overcome anxiety and discover to live with the full range of emotions.

Understanding the meaning of mindfulness skills is essential. As per to the scale used by the researchers in the study performed, mindfulness skills comprises of the ability to be aware, accept, describe and act or perform. To be aware is the skill to examine without judgment of everything going on inside and around a person. When a person has awareness it is possible for them to sit down and identify internal as well as external events. The ability to handle what is actually going on by identifying everything for what it is without judging the bad or good of the situation is known as acceptance. Description is the skill to explain the events into words. It is the skill to utilize language to portray what one is feeling and thinking and the events that caused those thoughts and feelings. To act pr perform is the ability to act after conscious, careful consideration.

What is the relation with low mindful skills usage and people with high anxiety?

The relation between low levels of mindfulness skills and high anxiety in people with anxiety might enlighten the role of negative coping skills. Also, it could show the likely therapeutic techniques that can help people with anxiety disorders. Dialectical behavioral therapy or DBT is a healing technique initially intended for people suffering from borderline personality disorder and lays focus on four components. The DBT’s first component is training mindfulness skills. This technique can also be used for people with anxiety disorder to develop the same skills. In addition, even as initial research has found a vague relation between mindfulness meditation and improvement in anxiety, the learning techniques for mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) along with mindfulness meditation can assist in the reduction of anxiety in case of insufficient mindfulness skills adds to the anxiety experienced by the person.

Generally, mindfulness is an essential component in spiritual practices of the East like Buddhism. Further research is required to prove a definite relation, but intuitive knowledge proposes that mindfulness skills can result in a healthier and happier emotional condition.