Breaking the Cycle of Avoidance and Panic

Chris Zhang
Feb 21
3 min read

If you’ve experienced panic attacks, it makes sense that you’d want to avoid anything that might trigger another one. Panic feels intense, uncomfortable, and frightening. Avoidance can feel protective.

In the short term, it often brings relief.

In the long term, it keeps panic going.

What Does Avoidance Look Like?

Avoidance can be obvious, like staying away from crowded places, public transport, driving on highways, elevators, or flying.

It can also be subtle:

Sitting near exits
Carrying medication “just in case”
Only going places with someone else
Leaving early when anxiety rises
Avoiding exercise because it increases your heart rate

These behaviours reduce anxiety in the moment. But they send your brain a powerful message: “This situation is dangerous.”

Over time, avoidance can spread. One avoided situation becomes two. Then five. Life slowly gets smaller.

Why Avoidance Keeps Anxiety Alive

Avoidance strengthens panic in several important ways:

1. You never test your fears. If you avoid the situation, you never discover what would actually happen. Your worst-case prediction remains unchallenged.

2. Your tolerance for anxiety decreases. If you rarely allow yourself to feel anxious sensations, they feel more intense and more threatening when they show up.

3. Confidence erodes. Avoidance can quietly reduce trust in your ability to cope.

4. You miss positive experiences. You don’t get the opportunity to learn, “I handled that.”

The Vicious Cycle of Panic

Panic often follows this loop:

Fear of panic → Avoidance → Short-term relief → Stronger fear next time.

Breaking the cycle requires doing the opposite of what anxiety urges: gradually approaching feared situations.

This is uncomfortable at first. Anxiety may rise temporarily.

But over time, something powerful happens:

Your predictions become more realistic.
Your confidence grows.
Anxiety reduces naturally.

Facing Feared Situations in a Planned Way

Simply “pushing yourself” into feared situations can feel overwhelming. A more effective approach is using behavioural experiments.

Think of it like being a curious scientist.

Instead of assuming your fear is true, you test it.

The Steps:

Identify your prediction. What do you think will happen? How anxious do you expect to feel?
Plan the experiment. What situation could test this fear?
Define observable evidence. What would clearly show your fear came true?
Do the experiment. Allow anxiety to rise and fall without escaping.
Review the results. What actually happened? Was it different from what you predicted?

The goal is not to feel calm. The goal is to learn something new.

Riding the Wave of Anxiety

Anxiety rises like a wave. It peaks. Then it falls.

If you leave too early, your brain learns: “Escaping kept me safe. ”If you stay long enough for anxiety to drop naturally, your brain learns: “I can handle this.”

Repeated practice builds tolerance. Tolerance builds confidence. Confidence reduces panic.

Dropping Safety Behaviours

Safety behaviours are small actions that help you feel protected. While they seem helpful, they can interfere with learning.

Examples:

Constantly checking your body
Distracting yourself to avoid feeling sensations
Always having someone nearby
Carrying “backup” items for reassurance

Gradually reducing these behaviours strengthens the impact of exposure.

Consistency Matters

Research shows that regular, repeated practice is more effective than occasional attempts. Behavioural experiments work best when done consistently and progressively.

Start small. Build up gradually. Repeat until your belief in the fear decreases.

And importantly—acknowledge your effort. Facing anxiety is hard work.

When to Seek Support

Working through avoidance can feel daunting alone. Therapy can provide structure, accountability, and guidance in planning behavioural experiments safely and effectively.

For individuals seeking panic or anxiety therapy in Markham, structured cognitive-behavioural approaches can help break the cycle of avoidance and rebuild confidence step by step.

Reference

Centre for Clinical Interventions (CCI). When Panic Attacks – Module 5: Facing Feared Situations. Government of Western Australia.