ANXIETY CURVE
This explanation is helpful for anxious clients to change their perspective about their anxiety, and as a
result, bring down their level of anxiety to a more moderate degree.
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Low
PRODUCTIVITY
High
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Draw the bell curve diagram below and explain that this is the relationship between anxiety level
and being productivity or accomplishments.
Ask the client to interpret the graph by asking the following questions:
a.
“When anxiety is very low, how productive are you?” (Client should say “low” or “not very”)
Then you say, “That’s right. When anxiety is too low, you don’t care enough to try very hard.”
b.
“When anxiety is very high, how productive are you?” (Client should say “low” or “not very”)
Then you say, “That’s right. When anxiety is too high, you are frozen and can’t act or think a
problem through to find a solution.”
c.
“What level of anxiety results in the highest level of productivity?” (Client should say
“moderate” or “medium”) Then you say, “That’s right. People perform their best with a
moderate amount of anxiety.”
Draw a circle around the left side of the curve and say “This is good anxiety. It is the amount of
anxiety that increases your performance. A small to moderate amount of anxiety motivates us to
try our best and to solve problems.”
Draw a circle around the right side of the curve and say, “This is bad anxiety. It is an amount of
anxiety that interferes with your ability to get a task done or distracts you from thinking through a
problem to find a solution.”
Conclude the explanation by saying, “So when you are feeling anxious, make your anxiety work
FOR you, not AGAINST you. Make your anxiety motivate you to get a task done or find a solution
to a problem.”
Illustrate with an example, such as “For example, you are driving to get somewhere and you hit
traffic which will make you late, which might cause you some anxiety. Your anxiety should
motivate you to find a solution, like find another route to get to your destination, call the people
who are expecting them to let them know you will be late, reschedule the meeting, conduct the
meeting over the phone, etc. Once you have come up with the best possible solution and acted
on it, your anxiety should reduce. If it doesn’t, using coping statements (like “Worrying about it
won’t get me there any more quickly”), relaxation strategies, or distractors (like listening to the
radio, naming states in alphabetical order, counting backward from 100 by 3) to bring down your
anxiety.”
You could give a homework assignment to have the client set up an anxiety-provoking situation
and use thoughts about this exercise to bring down their anxiety and/or find a solution to a
problem.
Low
ANXIETY
High