Personality and social psychologists have noted that the mere act of evaluating stimuli as threatening or dangerous can produce or maintain anxiety.
"We challenge thoughts and behaviours that might feel helpful in the short term – for instance, constantly waking a baby to check breathing or Googling health worries – but which maintain anxiety in the long run".
In it, fascinating research took place, like how non-actors could maintain anxiety-inducing eye-contact, or how love can bloom from random-ass dance numbers.
According to cognitive models of anxiety, attentional biases for threat may cause or maintain anxiety states.
Thus, while many expect alcohol will calm their anxiety, it probably acts to maintain anxiety disorders [ 26].
This is in line with evidence showing that safety behaviours such as reassurance seeking and distraction provide only transient relief and can serve to maintain anxiety [ 49].
However, the use of tobacco and/or alcohol predisposes people to development of anxiety over time by, e.g. producing chronic withdrawal symptoms and possible precipitation of somatic or emotional symptoms that maintain anxiety [ 32].
It is therefore possible that the recurrent, future-oriented intrusive images along themes of illness and death serve to maintain anxiety about health by increasing participants' estimation of the likelihood of these events occurring.
Lastly we review management strategies which might be used by cancer care professionals, in particular the importance of an awareness of specific patterns of communication which may alleviate or maintain anxiety for some cancer patients.
Once the individual enters a social situation, self-focused attention, negative images of self, safety behaviours and any other strategies that maintain anxiety (see Clark & McManus, 2002, for example) will simply serve to confirm the original negative view of self.
