Drop a safety behaviour
Notice the small things you do "just in case", and find out what happens without them.
Never drop medication, or anything a doctor has advised, as an experiment.
There's an old joke therapists like to tell. A man on a train keeps tearing up bits of paper and throwing them out of the window. "Why are you doing that?" asks the woman opposite. "It keeps the elephants away." "But there aren't any elephants here." "Exactly. It works."
In 1991, the Oxford psychologist Paul Salkovskis gave this a name: safety behaviours. Someone afraid of fainting during panic grips a rail or sits down, and never finds out they wouldn't have fainted anyway. The behaviour gets the credit, and the fear survives.
They're sneaky
Safety behaviours are often small and easy to miss. A few common ones:
- Rehearsing every sentence before you speak
- Avoiding eye contact, or keeping your hands busy
- Sitting near the exit, or always having someone with you
- Checking your phone, your pulse, or the route, again and again
- Carrying things "just in case" that you never actually use
Research on social anxiety by David Clark and Adrian Wells found they can even backfire: someone who stays quiet and avoids eye contact to avoid seeming awkward can come across as distant, which is the very thing they feared.
Safety behaviour, or just a choice?
Alex is anxious about a party. The same action can be either, depending on why you do it. Sort each one.
- Rehearsing what to say in your head before every sentence
- Bringing a bottle of wine for the host
- Staying by the door so you can slip out unnoticed
- Leaving at eleven because you're working early tomorrow
- Asking a friend to stay by your side all night
0 of 5 sorted
Jo always sits on the end of a row at the cinema, "in case I need to get out". Jo has never once had to leave. What would be a good experiment?
Plan your own experiment
Sign in to get feedback from Maya on your answer.
Your answers stay in this page and aren't saved or sent anywhere.
Finish the lesson
Answer the question above to complete the lesson.