Does Self-Awareness Make You More Anxious?

Self-awareness seems like a good thing because it allows you to know yourself, understand your motivations, and ultimately make better decisions. But it can also lead you to second-guess yourself and spin out into an excruciating state of self-consciousness, micro-analyzing every nuance of your thoughts and actions.

For instance, after a presentation at work, Molly’s boss pointed out a nervous tic she had in her speech. Her boss explained in a kind way that it was distracting. It got in the way of her building a confident professional image. Molly appreciated the feedback and knew objectively the feedback was spot-on. But, now she was afraid to speak up because she didn’t want to keep making this mistake.

While all her attention was focused on not making the speech tic, she lost track of what she was saying. She could not closely monitor her speech from an observer’s perspective and focus on the content of her presentation at the same time.

Also, it seemed like the harder she tried not to make the speech tic, the more she did it. Psychologists coined the term “ironic thought processes” to explain the phenomenon of when suppression of thought or action actually makes it more likely to occur.

A friend suggested she delve into the origin of the tic. Molly remembered she was anxious as a young girl…