Anticipatory Anxiety: How To Handle Worries About The Future

Maybe your like

HealthlineSubscribe

Anxiety and Depression

Explore more in Anxiety

Related Hubs

Mental Well-Being

A holistic guide to care

Anxiety Treatment and Management

A guide to therapy, medications, and techniques for managing anxiety

Key takeaways

Anticipatory anxiety is a common response to uncertainty, but it can become problematic when it significantly impacts daily life, potentially indicating an underlying anxiety disorder.
Effective coping strategies include addressing physical needs like sleep and nutrition, reframing negative self-talk, discussing fears with trusted individuals, and practicing grounding exercises to stay present.
Professional treatment options such as therapy (CBT, exposure therapy, EMDR) and medication (beta-blockers, benzodiazepines, SSRIs) can provide relief if you experience severe anticipatory anxiety.

Ever felt so worried you couldn’t fall asleep the night before a meeting with your boss? Maybe your palms sweat whenever you think about having the where-do-you-see-this-going talk with your partner.

No one knows what the future holds, and wondering how work or relationship situations will turn out is pretty normal. Or, maybe you’re more concerned about less ordinary events, including natural disasters, losing loved ones, or global pandemics.

Anticipatory anxiety describes fear and worry around bad things that could happen. It can happen in a lot of different contexts, but it commonly focuses on things you can’t predict or control.

Again, these worries are normal, but they can become signs of anticipatory anxiety if they start to impact your day-to-day life.

What it feels like

Anticipatory anxiety can range from a passing nervousness to a debilitating sense of dread.

You might notice:

difficulty concentrating
trouble managing emotions and mood
emotional numbness
loss of interest in your usual hobbies
jumpiness or restlessness
muscle tension and pain
nausea and appetite loss
sleep problems

With anticipatory anxiety, you might spend a lot of time imagining worst-case scenarios. Over-focusing on these unwanted outcomes can also increase your frustration and hopelessness.

Say your partner seems a little preoccupied lately. When you mention it, they say nothing’s wrong. You don’t believe them and start to worry they want to break up, and you can’t stop imagining the breakup conversation you believe is forthcoming. Thinking about losing your partner makes you feel sick, and you have trouble eating and sleeping normally.

Think of it as a symptom, not a disorder

Anticipatory anxiety isn’t a mental health diagnosis on its own, but it can appear as a symptom of generalized anxiety disorder.

Other conditions can also involve a fear of future events that may not necessarily happen.

Social anxiety

Social anxiety disorder involves an extreme fear of rejection or negative judgment. Often, physical anxiety symptoms also accompany these fears.

If you have social anxiety, you might worry about saying something embarrassing or taking a serious social misstep that costs you friends or your job.

Worrying about future criticism from others can make it difficult to share ideas or speak your mind on any topic.

Specific phobias

A specific phobia can involve extreme fear of everyday objects or experiences — clocks, spiders, heights, or taking a bus. People with phobias often have a lot of anticipatory anxiety around coming into contact with what they’re afraid of.

Say you have a phobia of dogs. Dogs are pretty common, so you know you’ll probably encounter one sometime, but you don’t know when or where. As a result, you might spend a lot of time worrying about the possibility of that encounter. This anxiety can keep you from going places you might see dogs, which can limit your ability to spend time outside or with friends who have dogs.

Anticipatory anxiety related to phobias can become so severe you eventually avoid venturing out at all, which can strain your relationships with friends and loved ones.

Panic disorder

Anticipatory anxiety is a common symptom of panic disorder.

Panic attacks involve a lot of uncomfortable sensations, including chest pain, difficulty breathing, and feelings of extreme terror. If you’ve had one panic attack, it’s very normal to worry about having another one, especially if you have no idea what triggered it.

Anxiety about having more panic attacks can become overwhelming. Worries over losing control in front of other people can lead you to avoid public places. Fears of having a panic attack while behind the wheel might prevent you from driving, which could affect your ability to get around.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

Many people who’ve experienced trauma live in fear of that trauma happening again. PTSD-related anticipatory anxiety can occur as a symptom of any traumatic experience — a car crash, a mugging, or witnessing a loved one’s death.

Triggers related to the trauma could heighten your feelings of anticipatory anxiety. If the event is never far from your mind, you might spend so much time remembering what happened and worrying about it happening again that you struggle to think about anything else.

How to cope with it

Anticipatory anxiety can cause plenty of distress and keep you stuck in looping anxious thoughts.

These coping tips can help you take action to break this cycle.

Take care of physical needs

The mind-body connection is very real, and your physical wellness can have an impact on emotional wellness. Things like sleep, nutrition, and exercise can play an important part in the management of anxiety symptoms, including anticipatory anxiety.

If your symptoms include a nervous stomach, you might find it hard to eat regularly, but skipping meals can make you feel even worse.

In a particularly unpleasant catch-22, anxiety makes it difficult to get restful sleep, but sleep deprivation can worsen anticipatory anxiety. As you lie awake, you might worry about your anxiety getting worse. What to do?

Cutting back on caffeine and practicing relaxation techniques just before bed can often improve your sleep.

Find more tips to help you sleep better.

Physical activity can also help relieve symptoms of anxiety and stress and help you sleep better at night. Just try to avoid exercising too close to bedtime, since this can sometimes keep you awake.

Check your self-talk

The way you talk to yourself about anxiety matters.

It’s natural to worry about bad things happening. When these worries start to take over, remind yourself (kindly) that spending too much time thinking about negative things can prevent you from enjoying the good things in life.

When you start to worry about something, ask yourself, “Is this a realistic possibility?” If your (honest) answer is no, try to redirect your energy toward the present moment instead.
If the answer is yes, it’s perfectly OK to make a plan to cope, whether that involves taking time off work or restocking your emergency supplies. Then, try to set your thoughts aside: You’ve done all you can for now.

If you tend to criticize yourself for your fears and anxious thoughts, think about what you might say to a friend who shared similar thoughts. You’d probably offer positive support, not negative judgment, right? Practice that same compassion with yourself.

Talk about it

It’s not always easy to talk about what you’re afraid of, but sometimes voicing those fears can help them feel less frightening.

Remember the previous example of worrying about a breakup? Telling your partner about your fears might feel more terrifying than the thought of the breakup.

Take a closer look at the situation. Is your relationship mostly going well? Do you have any reason to believe they want to break up? Could something else entirely be distracting them? You won’t know for sure unless you start a conversation.

Letting loved ones know about your anxiety can also help, especially if you feel isolated by your symptoms. Friends and family can offer support by listening and providing positive distractions, like taking a walk or cooking a meal together.

Ground yourself

Grounding exercises can help interrupt distressing or anxious thoughts and reconnect to the present.

Some of them involve physical items, like snapping a rubber band against your wrist, holding ice, or stroking a soothing grounding object. Many grounding techniques happen in your own thoughts, so you can practice them anywhere, at any time.

Here are several to get you started.

Consider professional treatment

If your own coping strategies aren’t providing much relief, it’s worth exploring professional help. Anxiety is pretty common, and most people need a bit of extra support to live comfortably with it.

Here’s a look at the main options.

Therapy

Therapy is usually the best way to explore issues involving anxiety. A therapist can help you examine sources of stress in your life and begin working to address possible causes of anticipatory anxiety.

Therapists can also help you identify harmful or less effective coping methods, like avoiding the source of your fear or numbing with alcohol, and offer guidance on more helpful strategies.

Since anticipatory anxiety can happen with different mental health concerns, your therapist might recommend a specific type of therapy depending on what you’re dealing with:

Many therapists recommend cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) or mindfulness-based CBT for anxiety.
Exposure therapy can be particularly helpful for specific phobias, but it’s also often recommended for other types of anxiety and PTSD.
Along with talk therapy, eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) helps many people see improvement of PTSD symptoms.

Online therapy options

Read our review of the best online therapy options to find the right fit for you.

Medication

Medication won’t cure anxiety, but it can help improve symptoms, including anticipatory anxiety, especially when combined with therapy.

Your healthcare provider may recommend medication if your symptoms:

make it difficult to go about your daily life
prevent you from making progress in therapy
cause serious distress
affect your physical health

Anxiety medications include both long- and short-term options, so you don’t necessarily have to take them forever. The decision to take medication is personal, so you shouldn’t feel pressured to either try or avoid it.

Here are some potential medications that can help:

Beta-blockers can work well as an occasional treatment for stress. You might consider these if your anxiety is usually manageable but sometimes feels out of control.
Benzodiazepines are sedatives that can promote relaxation and calm. They can be addictive, so they’re only recommended for short-term use. You might use them to help manage serious anxiety symptoms as you begin therapy, for example.
Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs), and other antidepressants can provide relief over longer periods of time.

Learn more about the medications that can help with anxiety.

When to get help

Anxiety has an important purpose: It helps you prepare for possible danger.

The future holds only surprises, so it’s normal to spend some time wondering what lies ahead. This can actually help you — it’s never a bad idea to prepare for a range of possibilities.

However, when anticipatory anxiety becomes so severe it prevents you from enjoying the present, it may be time to seek professional support.

In short, if your quality of life is affected, talking to a therapist can help.

Not sure where to start? Our guide to affordable therapy can help.

The bottom line

Uncertainty can be frightening, especially when you want to protect yourself from harm. It’s not possible to predict the future, so it’s important to find ways to cope with the unknown so these worries don’t cause problems in your life.

A compassionate therapist can help you address overwhelming fears of uncertainty and get more comfortable with the unknown.

Crystal Raypole has previously worked as a writer and editor for GoodTherapy. Her fields of interest include Asian languages and literature, Japanese translation, cooking, natural sciences, sex positivity, and mental health. In particular, she’s committed to helping decrease stigma around mental health issues.

How we reviewed this article:

SourcesHistoryHealthline has strict sourcing guidelines and relies on peer-reviewed studies, academic research institutions, and medical journals and associations. We only use quality, credible sources to ensure content accuracy and integrity. You can learn more about how we ensure our content is accurate and current by reading our editorial policy.

American Psychiatric Association. (2013). The diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, fifth edition. Arlington, VA: American Psychiatric Association.
Anderson E, et al. (2013). Effects of exercise and physical activity on anxiety. DOI:https://dx.doi.org/10.3389%2Ffpsyt.2013.00027
Anticipatory anxiety. (n.d.).http://dictionary.apa.org/anticipatory-anxiety
Beyond worry: How psychologists help with anxiety disorders. (2016).https://www.apa.org/helpcenter/anxiety
Evans S, et al. (2008). Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy for generalized anxiety disorder. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.janxdis.2007.07.005
Fala NC, et al. (2016). Anticipatory anxiety in the treatment of combat veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1080/10926771.2015.1081661
Goldstein AN, et al. (2013). Tired and apprehensive: Anxiety amplifies the impact of sleep loss on aversive brain anticipation. DOI:https://dx.doi.org/10.1523%2FJNEUROSCI.5578-12.2013
Grillon C, et al. (2009). Increased anxiety during anticipation of unpredictable aversive stimuli in posttraumatic stress disorder but not in generalized anxiety disorder. DOI:https://dx.doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.biopsych.2008.12.028
Grupe DW, et al. (2013). Uncertainty and anticipation in anxiety. DOI:https://dx.doi.org/10.1038%2Fnrn3524
Panic disorder: When fear overwhelms. (2016).https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/panic-disorder-when-fear-overwhelms/index.shtml
PTSD treatments. (2017).https://www.apa.org/ptsd-guideline/treatments
Roy-Byrne P. (n.d.). What medications are used to treat anxiety disorders?https://adaa.org/learn-from-us/from-the-experts/blog-posts/what-medications-are-used-treat-anxiety-disorders
Social anxiety disorder: More than just shyness. (n.d.).https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/social-anxiety-disorder-more-than-just-shyness/index.shtml
What is exposure therapy? (n.d.).https://www.apa.org/ptsd-guideline/patients-and-families/exposure-therapy

Share this article

Medically reviewed by Timothy J. Legg, PhD, PsyD — Written by Crystal Raypole — Updated on March 17, 2020

Health Conditions

Condition Spotlight

Wellness Topics

Product Reviews

Featured Programs

Featured

Lessons

Newsletters

Lifestyle Quizzes

Health News

This Just In

Top Reads

Video Series

Find Your Bezzy Community

Follow us on social media

Anxiety and Depression

Related Hubs

Mental Well-Being

Anxiety Treatment and Management

Related Topics

Causes & Risk Factors

Related Articles

Complications

Related Articles

Diagnosis

Related Articles

Diet

Related Hub

Nutrition & Supplements

Related Articles

Home Remedies

Related Articles

Management

Related Articles

Prognosis

Related Articles

Related Conditions

Related Articles

Symptoms

Related Articles

Treatment

Related Hub

Therapy

Related Articles

Types

Related Articles

Key takeaways

What it feels like

Think of it as a symptom, not a disorder

Social anxiety

Specific phobias

Panic disorder

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

How to cope with it

Take care of physical needs

Check your self-talk

Talk about it

Ground yourself

Consider professional treatment

Therapy

Online therapy options

Medication

When to get help

The bottom line

How we reviewed this article:

Read this next

Contact