Fear and anxiety, and their management through frameworks of interpretation

Fear and anxiety are two closely related psychological phenomena, and also relatively frequent; There are many people who, in their daily lives, run into situations that overwhelm them emotionally through these kinds of experiences: exams, job stress, problems relatives, etc.

Of course, part of what explains anxiety and fear is out there, in the objective reality around us. But we cannot forget that, at the same time, this torrent of emotions has to do with the way in which we interpret reality, a subjective element. Given this, it is key to know how to manage our frames of interpretation of reality to, through them, also manage our emotions.

• Related article: "The 7 types of anxiety (characteristics, causes and symptoms)"

Why anxiety and fear depend on frames of interpretation

It is clear that practically no one is free from feeling a lot of fear or anxiety from time to time; it is simply something that we cannot control 100%.

However, we are not condemned to suffer excess fear and anxiety; in the face of day-to-day challenges, we have room for maneuver to manage those unpleasant emotions in the best possible way and even more so, use them to our advantage to take action and achieve objectives. Part of what makes this possible has to do with our ability to know how to interpret what happens to us through a constructive and directed perspective towards the goals that really matter to us, and not towards what we fear losing or not control.

And is that one of the most important findings of cognitive psychology is that depending on the network of concepts through which we "filter" the information from the outside, we feel one way or another, and not only that, but we adopt one predisposition or another when dealing with the problems that we affect. That is, the cognitive schemes through which we interpret reality and our lives are manifest both in emotions and in our objective behavior patterns, observable by the the rest.

What role does executive coaching play in all of this?

Executive coaching provides several tools with which we can build frameworks for the interpretation of reality capable of bringing us closer to our objectives; specifically, to those goals that mean something to us, capable of stimulating us emotionally and intellectually.

This is very important when managing fear and anxiety, since these phenomena emotional are very prone to paralyze us for fear of doing something wrong, getting out of what "should be". At the same time, Anxiety about the possibility of taking a wrong step leads us to become obsessed with the idea of ​​collecting as much information as possible constantly, something that pushes us to the limit psychologically and that also predisposes us to think a lot and do little, keeping us stagnant.

Silvia Guarnieri, Executive Coach and founding partner and Academic Director of Escuela Europea de Coaching, explains it with these words:

“The obsessive search for information to try to understand what is happening is like the effect of inspiring much more than necessary, as occurs in anxiety. We fill ourselves with data thinking about finding a way out, an interpretation about what happens to us that gives us meaning. We are anxious because we want not to be wrong. We want to have the correct interpretation of things, weighing so that we are going to make the most appropriate decision ”.

On the role of the coach, Guarnieri adds:

“From the coaching we help to internalize the idea that there is no interpretation of the facts correct, there is only one interpretation that is our own, and therefore we are responsible for her. The job is not tirelessly looking for the correct or perfect explanation of what is happening but one that gives us power, that invites us to spread our wings, without giving too much importance to it being the fairest interpretation, since we know that the latter simply does not exists. All this assuming that we are almost certainly going to make a mistake or at least we are going to correct the path as many times as necessary until the expected result is achieved ”.

Thus, executive coaching predisposes us to adopt an active attitude in the construction of interpretation frameworks of reality, without fear of not making it perfect (which would paralyze us) and without assuming that we must "discover" the correct way of looking at thingssince the latter implies that almost all points of view are inadequate. Through this personal development process, we create a way of interpreting things that suits us, it is functional for us, and it gives us a way to manage emotions in a fluid and constructive.

• You may be interested in: "Why is it important to know how to manage emotions?"

Are you interested in learning to manage emotions?

If you want to develop your skills related to managing anxiety and other forms of emotional expression, You may be interested in the project School of emotions, of the European School of Coaching. It is an online training program based on weekly classes conducted through the classroom system synchronous (with live sessions), with lectures, exhibitions and practical exercises, with technical support constant. If you want to know more, go to the European School of Coaching page.

Bibliographic references:

• Kasper, S.; Boer, J.A. & Sitsen, J.M.A. (2003). Handbook of depression and anxiety (2nd ed.). New York: M. Dekker.
• Phillips, A.C.; Carroll, D.; Der, G. (2015). Negative life events and symptoms of depression and anxiety: stress causation and / or stress generation. Anxiety, Stress, and Coping. 28 (4): pp. 357 - 371.