Unpacking Anxiety: Indecision

Anxiety impacts an estimated 40 million adults in the United States. (1) And while anxiety is a frequent occurrence, anxiety can take on many different shapes and forms throughout the population. In this series, we are taking the time to unpack different ways that anxiety presents or shows up in the lives of different people. Just like human beings are wildly different, the way that humans experience anxiety can be just as varied and different as the population.  

So let’s get started with anxiety in the form of indecision.

What restaurant should we go to? Should I wear jeans and a blouse, or a sundress? Should I text them back, maybe I should call, should I email? Should I date this person, should I marry them, do I actually want to be with them? I know I don’t like this job, but what should I do, what am I good at, what do I like?

It’s safe to say that the pattern of indecision can take on many forms, and can vary in importance from small life tasks with little importance to long-term outcomes to significant life decisions that plot out our course in life. 

While indecision over which outfit to wear, how to respond to a potential friend or love interest, or which restaurant to go to you may seem minimal, all forms of indecision may be an aspect of an anxiety response. 

To understand how indecision connects with anxiety we have to understand the relationship between anxiety and fear.

The research on anxiety and fear find that anxiety and fear are associated with the same neurotransmitters, hormones, and other biochemical factors. (2) 

This is pretty important. When we think about the fact that the fear response in the body is associated the safety, and anxiety is producing the same responses on a neurotransmitter,  hormonal, and biochemical level, it tells us that the body is associating the anxious response with a level of protection.

So how does this connect anxiety with indecision?

What would happen if you wore the wrong outfit, chose the wrong restaurant, communicated in an inappropriate or ill-received manner? Would you be rejected? Would you be seen as dumb, less than, incapable? 

What would happen if you chose the wrong career path? Married the wrong person? Broke up with the wrong person? Moved to the wrong city or took the wrong job? 

Would you miss opportunities? Would you experience failure? Would someone you love or care about critique or be disappointed with you? 

And more importantly, what would it mean about you if those things did occur? 

Oftentimes, indecision is rooted in the anxiety or fear of one of these perceived truths becoming a reality or being confirmed or supported in some way.

So, from that vantage point, indecision as a part of anxiety makes a lot of sense. And the even better part is that anxiety therapy can help! 

Whether through addressing where the fears originated or working through functional coping skills to alter and address the thinking patterns, anxiety therapy can help decrease the distress and discomfort associated with indecision. 

Learn more about anxiety therapy and our Arlington, TX-based therapy group.