McKinsey&Company
Don’t fear the fear
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Fearful. Is fear something to be completely avoided? Or is it perhaps a useful tool in this game called life? Definitely the former, says one professor of psychology, who compares not listening to our fears with not listening to pain: you can risk getting injured if you don’t feel the sensation. It’s not about whether your fears are rational. The big question those working through fear should ask themselves is if it’s proportional to the real-life threat. In other words: Does this particular fear matter in your daily life? [NYT] |
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Fearless. Worldwide anxiety and depression increased by 25% because of the COVID-19 pandemic, WHO reported in March. At work, anxiety and depression can manifest as not just stress but fear, multiplied by pandemic-induced situations over which we have little to no control. Ever-present anxiety can lead to burnout, depression disorders, and panic attacks. But understanding what’s causing your fear can help you come up with potential solutions and discern what influence you may have to effect change. [FT] |
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Good for you. Anxiety isn’t a malfunction, says Tracy Dennis-Tiwary, professor of psychology and neuroscience and founder of Wise Therapeutics. Nor is it an automatic signal that something is terribly wrong. While anxiety has been a ubiquitous experience during the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s still misunderstood. She believes it’s in need of rebranding as a helpful, potentially transformative function of being human that allows us to create, be creative, and find meaning and purpose.
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Though it can feel bad. In McKinsey’s latest edition of Author Talks, Dennis-Tiwary discusses her new book Future Tense: Why Anxiety Is Good for You (Even Though It Feels Bad) and how we can reframe our relationship with anxiety. Mental-health professionals, she believes, have unintentionally communicated harmful information about anxiety. Dennis-Tiwary proposes a different, healthy mindset about anxiety—including treating it as helpful “information, not a failure of happiness.”
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| — Edited by Justine Jablonska |
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