Rethinking How to Cope with Anxiety

My oldest son recently learned a new word at school, and he was all too excited to tell me.

It was “aibohphobia.” Yeah, I had never heard of it either.

Aibohphobia is the (unofficial) fear of palindromes, which are words that read the same front and back. Coincidentally (or not), the word itself is a palindrome. The discussion of aibohphobia led my son and me down a lengthy Google search for other kinds of other not-too-common phobias.

Nomophobia? It’s the fear of being without your mobile device.

Sesquipedalophobia? It’s the fear of long words, like “Sangchompuphen,” for example.

Testophobia? You guessed it—the irrational fear of taking tests.

Someone experiencing testophobia may find it difficult to take tests and may perform very poorly on them due to the intense anxiety that they feel when taking them. Some of the more common symptoms of testophobia include: experiencing intense anxiety when thinking about or actually taking tests; forgetting information during the test (i.e., “drawing a blank” or, as I say, “having a brain fart”); and even avoiding taking tests altogether.

You might find yourself feeling anxious preparing for the bar exam. You might have nervous energy, butterflies in the stomach, a pounding heart, worried thoughts, or maybe outright panic. All of this could be debilitating to your preparation as they interfere with your ability to concentrate and focus on the task at hand.

However, scientists have found that some degree of anxiety isn't necessarily a bad thing.

After all, anxiety itself isn’t the problem. Instead, our ways of coping with anxiety are the problem, according to Tracy Dennis-Tiwary, anxiety researcher and psychology and neuroscience professor at The City University of New York, in her new book, Future Tense: Why Anxiety Is Good for You (Even Though It Feels Bad).

In Future Tense, Prof. Dennis-Tiwary argues that we sometimes end up using the wrong thoughts and behaviors to cope with or avoid our anxiety altogether—and there lies the problem.

Prof. Dennis-Tiwary describes anxiety as a warning sign that brings awareness to your current situation and informs you to make decisions on what actions to take. But we don’t always take the appropriate actions.

Prof. Dennis-Tiwary uses the analogy of a smoke alarm. Discussing her book on the Hidden Brain podcast with Shankar Vedantam, Prof. Dennis-Tiwary described this analogy in detail:

If we hear a smoke alarm go off in our house, it really wouldn't be wise to put earplugs in or to just ignore the signal and move to another part of the house. What we do when we hear a smoke alarm is we make sure there's not fire. We might even check the batteries to make sure that's not off, but we don't ignore it. And anxiety is an emotion that wants to be heeded, that wants to be honored. It's telling us that there's this future uncertainty that we're facing and "I'm here to help you navigate it. I'm going to prepare you with information about what's coming and to do everything you possibly can to make sure that those outcomes you hope for become your reality.”

Since anxiety is apprehension about the uncertain future, Prof. Dennis-Tiwary writes in Future Tense that anxiety makes us into mental time travelers into the future where something bad could happen—but something good could also happen.

Anxiety makes us into mental time travelers into the future where something bad could happen—but something good could also happen.

As Prof. Dennis-Tiwary continued in the Hidden Brain podcast:

I might have anxiety, maybe I'm out camping and I know that there are bears that have been sighted in this part of the wilderness. And so anxiety would actually give me the information that there could be danger, but also safety. And then it primes me with that information. It primes me to prepare and to do something about that potential danger and to optimize the chances that I can be safe from that bear and that I don't wander into a cave where there's a bear with her cubs.

That’s one of the reasons why people with anxiety may also be skilled in leadership roles, Prof. Dennis-Tiwary writes in Future Tense. For instance, many individuals with anxiety are highly aware of what can potentially go wrong, making them more cautious thinkers, careful decision-makers, and great problem-solvers.

So as you’re preparing for the bar exam, don’t avoid the anxiety. Instead, learn how you might be able to cope with it differently so that you can use it to your advantage.