How to manage stress and persevere through workplace challenges.
By Jenna Hughes
We all face pressure in the workplace, and feeling stress at work on occasion is normal. However, when stress becomes persistent, irrational or overwhelming and starts to impair daily functioning, it can cause a major impact on performance.
“We live in a very complex, challenging business environment,” said Dr. Jonathan Berent, a psychotherapist specializing in social anxiety disorders. “When it comes to productivity in the workplace, the primary symptom of anxiety that is of concern is avoidance.”
Everyday workplace occurrences – including formal and informal public speaking, negotiating conflict with supervisors and coworkers, meeting deadlines, competition, burnout and more – may cause stress, leading individuals with anxiety to avoid specific situations entirely.
Dr. Berent, who has been working with social and performance anxieties in the clinical setting since 1978, said avoidance can quickly become an addiction, and the only way that an addiction can sustain itself is through enabling behavior.
To guide skilled professionals in conquering and overcoming their anxieties, Dr. Berent authored the books “Work Makes Me Nervous: Overcome Anxiety” and “Build the Confidence to Succeed and Beyond Shyness: How to Conquer Social Anxieties”, which provide techniques for successfully managing workplace anxiety and using the power of adrenaline as an advantage.
“In high-stress workplace situations, what happens to an individual is that they are in pain – anxiety is interchangeable with pain,” said Dr. Berent. “There is considerable anxiety when an individual starts avoiding these situations, the anxiety turns into fear and eventually a phobia, and that is where there can be a real backup productivity in the work environment.”
Dr. Berent said that many people suffer from panic capacity, but those that are most at risk within a work setting are individuals who fear being noticeably nervous.
Physical symptoms of adrenaline spiking from being ‘noticeably nervous’ include sweating, trembling voice, voice freeze, blushing, a racing heart or an observable panic attack. The fear of being noticeably nervous during workplace conversations, presentations, etc., leads to fear and ultimately avoidance behavior.
“When this happens, the most skilled and successful professionals are brought to their knees,” said Dr. Berent. “Because visible nervousness creates fear of exposure or perceived weakness.”
As technology and the use of artificial intelligence (AI) continue to shape the workplace, leaders are increasingly demanding perfection from the people that work for them. As a result, workplace anxiety and fear of perceived weakness is becoming increasingly prevalent, especially among younger generations of workers.
“More than ever, there’s competition in the workplace, and technology is driving the competition,” said Dr. Berent. “Technology is a tremendous enabler in terms of interactive avoidance, and forms of communication like texting has replaced talking; and this continued avoidance leads to addiction.”
Conquering anxieties
The key to breaking free of addiction patterns and addressing workplace anxiety is not to eliminate it; but to harness anxiety instead as a powerful tool to drive focus and productivity.
“When workplace adrenaline continues to threaten performance, the key is to stop fighting it,” said Dr. Berent.
To guide patients in navigating workplace stressors, Dr. Berent developed a three-step method based on prospective paradoxical intention that he calls “Surfing,” which encourages patients to acknowledge adrenaline rather than resist it, reinterpret adrenaline as useful energy and use controlled breathing techniques to move through stressful moments instead of fighting against them.
“Step one of the method is where the big misconception is – people hope that adrenaline and anxiety are not going to be there. They’ll do whatever they can do to make believe it won’t be there, but it will. Don’t waste any time hoping it’s not,” said Dr. Berent. “Number two, which is the hardest, is accepting the adrenaline with the interpretation that it’s your friend in power.”
When a person is facing anxiety in real time, their internal critical script precedes the threat, said Dr. Berent. The solution to workplace anxiety lies in what he calls ‘the paradox of adrenaline acceptance’ – learning to stop treating adrenaline as the enemy.
That’s where step three of Dr. Berent’s method, and the metaphor of “surfing” comes into play.
“The surfer goes with the wave, the adrenaline is the wave, so if you choose to go with it, then you’re in control,” he said. “If you don’t, then it creates panic. I teach people that this panic is not good, and to focus instead on adapting and embracing adrenaline, so, in real time during work, what the person wants to do is nothing more than focus on surfing.”
“When you do the real quality work, there’s a certain amount of introspection into one’s reservoir that needs to identify where does that negative association to adrenaline come up, and why,” said Dr. Berent. “Significant performance anxiety is associated with complex trauma, but in real time, all you want to do is surf.”
Many people may default to waiting until the last minute to get healthier because of embarrassment, resistance to change or stigma. “The last thing a perfectionist wants to do is to have others know they’re not perfect,” said Dr. Berent. “These types of leaders tend to avoid getting help until things are dire, such as when their job is on the line.”
Over time, though, persistent avoidance adds up, preventing the necessary steps toward navigating anxiety and healing. Dr. Berent reminds professionals that a person’s most valuable asset is not their house, education or money, but instead: their time.
“You can borrow money; you can’t borrow time. People with an avoidant personality and performance anxiety are experts at avoiding. But what happens is their problem accrues, it collects interest, like you’re putting money in the bank, so the more you avoid, the more the problem gets worse,” said Dr. Berent. “Our most valuable asset is time. So take action to address your anxiety now.”
Key Takeaways
- Workplace anxiety is increasing due to workplace expectations and competition; is driven by technology advancements and increasing workplace culture of perfection.
- It causes symptoms of being ‘noticeably nervous’ including sweating, trembling voice, voice freeze, blushing, a racing heart or an observable panic attack.
- Over time, workplace anxiety adds up to avoidance of workplace stressors and can develop into a phobia/addiction.
- It can be addressed by embracing the adrenaline associated with it and taking action now.