Do you reduce the risks? | Psychology today

Psychologists who work with patients often focus anxiety and depression on how people jump into negative conclusions. Sometimes it may be promoted for the processor “strength Positive thinking“Encouraging patients to look at the positives and not“ bias ”towards negative. Reducing the risk.

Here are some examples of behaviors and problems that people constantly reduce risk:

1. Obesity: 32 % overweight, 42 % suffer from obesity
2. Alcohol Poor use: 23 % are involved in evil drinking last month; 10.2 % suffer from alcohol use disorder, And 9.7 % struggled with drugs addicted
3. Do not take medicine: 75 % they have Difficulty taking prescribed medications
4. Do not follow medical examinations: 27 % do not get colonoscopy
5. Driving very quickly: 54 % admit the speed Last month, and among the youth, they confessed to pay attention on their cell phone while driving
6. Unprotected Sex: 39 % of Teenage children do not use a condom
7. Excessive spending: 57 % of Americans say they live on the salary

These are the consequences of the aforementioned behavioral problems:

1. Obesity: heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, MetabolismCancer
2. Alcohol abuse: 178,000,000 people die every year, from cancer, liver disease, cardiovascular problems, and an increase in the risk of infection depressionAnd Suicide
3. Not taking the drug: stroke, heart attack, diabetes, death
4. Do not follow medical examinations: cancer (colon and rectal, breast, cervix), bad with any disease, or death
5. Driving very quickly: accidents, Self -injury and othersDeath, fines, criminal charges, and loss of licensing
6. Unprotected sex: HIV, gonorrhea, chlamydia, hepatitis, and unwanted Load
7. Excessive spending: increased debt, failure in saving, anxietyand Repeated local conflict, Effects on children and bankruptcy

Productive anxiety

I remember participating in an international conference a few years ago, where we discussed anxiety. I published a famous book, Anxietyand My fellow members of the committee were very respectable academics looking for anxiety. I indicated that anxiety may sometimes be productive, and at this point almost each of them challenged me. I suggested that if they were right, the anxiety will be the person Passion This developed was never useful. I have argued that anxiety can be fruitful if you make you expect a potential danger that you can prepare for or avoid. It allows you to look at your options and avoid unnecessary risks. They asked me to give examples. She referred to some countries whose debts led to a debt crisis (for example, Argentina, Greece). Or individuals who can withstand insurance costs but do not buy it, or people who spend more than they earn, or people who do not provide for the future. It has indicated that architects and engineers who design buildings and bridges need to expect danger. They are employing pressure Tests to ensure that their structures will not collapse. I also suggested that financial investors expect risks to avoid or hedge against it, and that banks are involved periodically in stress tests to ensure that they are not excessively. In fact, when I met a prominent investor in the hedge box and told him that I wrote a book on anxiety, he told me that he is comforting his success. He was trying to avoid unnecessary risks while balanced his strategy to earn profits. Thinking positively is not the same thinking realistically.

The same applies in our daily life. Sometimes anxiety can help us avoid unnecessary risks. It links us in the future and how we can protect that self from the incomparable mistakes. Of course, we want to turn anxiety into problem solving and then into a plan, then we start changing our behavior accordingly. It is not easy, because sometimes it is good to ignore the risks. However, sometimes feeling satisfied at the present time can feel miserable in the future.