Many people struggle to cope with frustration, the stuck feeling of being unable to achieve a goal, and anxiety, the fear of danger. Fortunately, there are many psychological techniques for handling the stress caused by frustration and anxiety. Some people are born with temperaments that make them prone to anxiety and frustration.
Wired for Anxiety
Professor Jerome Kagan of Harvard University began studying a group of over 450 babies in 1989. In a 2007 essay, "Temperament," from "The Dana Guide to Brain Health," Kagan described learning that some babies consistently showed high anxiety throughout the first 20 years of their lives, seemingly wired for anxiety.
People with more even temperaments can be affected by negative events. In a survey on the impact of the economic recession that began in 2008, titled "Mental Health and the Economy," the American Psychiatric Association found that female survey participants showed major increases in anxiety and frustration.
Vicious Cycle
It is hard to tell which comes first---the chicken of anxiety or the egg of frustration. A person may fail at reaching a goal, become frustrated and then become anxious each time an attempt is made to finish the project.
Alternatively, a person may feel anxious about a task, and then become frustrated when fears or obstacles stop that person from finishing the activity.
Ancient Problem
History records many attempts to deal with frustration and anxiety. The "Meditations" of Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius, written shortly before 180 C.E., contain some of the earliest self-help essays on record, as the emperor cultivated calming thoughts to tamp down his anxiety and frustration.
In the modern era, psychologists have reviewed some of the ancient ideas for coping with frustration and anxiety, and have developed many new psychological techniques as well.
Ideas
Among current approaches for dealing with negative thoughts, two viewpoints have been intensively studied by scientists: cognitive-behavioral therapy and positive psychology.
Cognitive-behavioral therapy suggests that people suffering from anxiety and frustration are thinking about their lives in pervasively negative and inaccurate ways. In the book by Dr. David Burns, "Feeling Good," the reader is guided to examine patterns of anxious, frustrated thoughts and change them to accurate, energizing views.
Positive psychology sees people dealing with anxiety and frustration as having entered a state of learned helplessness, where they think that nothing they do will make any difference. Dr. Sonja Lyubomirsky's book "The How of Happiness" describes simple activities that produce increasingly positive thought patterns, such as developing a vision of one's best possible self in the future.
The Anxiety Disorders Association of America lists many other psychological approaches in an essay on its website titled "Therapy." In instances where anxiety and frustration are severe, learning psychological techniques may need to be supplemented by therapy and medication.
Help
There is a rich treasury of psychological techniques for dealing with anxiety and frustration, explained clearly in numerous books and backed up by scientific studies. No one should feel that they have to live with intense anxiety and frustration for their entire lives.
References
- Anxiety Disorders Association of America: Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD)
- "Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy"; Dr. David Burns; 1999
- "The How of Happiness"; Dr. Sonja Lyubomirsky; 2007
