#4 Manifestations of Intolerance of Uncertainty - Overcoming Worry & Anxiety | Dr. Rami Nader
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- Опубліковано 26 сер 2020
- If intolerance of uncertainty is the "fuel" that drives the excessive worry, how can you become more tolerant to uncertainty in the world. Increasing tolerance for uncertainty is a key skill in worry management and overcoming Generalized Anxiety Disorder. However, before you can become more tolerant for uncertainty, you need to know the ways in which intolerance of uncertainty manifests itself in your behavior and the various things you do. There are a lot of things that people do that are intolerant of uncertainty, with most people not being aware that these behaviors are actually promoting and exacerbating worry. Once you become better at recognizing the various manifestations of intolerance of uncertainty that are playing a role in your worry and anxiety, you can then begin to take steps to behave in ways that are more tolerant of uncertainty.
The manifestations of intolerance of uncertainty are:
1) Avoiding doing certain things.
2) Finding imaginary obstacles or reasons not to do certain things.
3) Procrastinating.
4) Always having to do everything yourself and not delegating tasks to anyone else.
5) Not fully committing yourself to a relationship, job or project.
6) Spreading yourself too thin and doing too many things at once.
7) Looking for a lot of information before proceeding to do something.
8) Second guessing yourself after you have made a decision because you are not longer certain it's the right decision.
9) Reassurance seeking.
10) Always trying to explain things rationally or creating a false sense of certainty by being overly and unrealistically optimistic.
11) Double checking things or redoing them because you are not certain you did them right in the first place.
12) Overprotecting others, doing things for them.
For more information about excessive worry and Generalized Anxiety Disorder, see my long form video: tinyurl.com/y4yqthap
#GAD #Worry #CBT
Videos in the worry management series:
Overcoming Worry 1: Defining Worry: 3 features of worry and 2 types of worry - tinyurl.com/y2ox4z9n
Overcoming Worry 2: Understanding a model of worry and worry awareness training - tinyurl.com/y5awco8l
Overcoming Worry & Anxiety 3: The Role of Intolerance of Uncertainty in Worry - tinyurl.com/y6ohak2y
Overcoming Worry & Anxiety 4: Manifestations of Intolerance of Uncertainty - • #4 Manifestations of I...
Overcoming Worry & Anxiety 5: Two Ways to Build Tolerance for Uncertainty - • #5 Two Ways to Build T...
Overcoming Worry & Anxiety 6: Five Myths about Worry - • #6 Five Myths about Wo...
Overcoming Worry & Anxiety 7: Challenging Worry Myths - • #7 Challenging Worry M...
Overcoming Worry & Anxiety 8: What do you do when you hate dealing with problems? - • #8 What do you do when...
Overcoming Worry & Anxiety 9: Problem-Solving Skills to Defeat Worry - • #9 Problem-Solving Ski...
Overcoming Worry & Anxiety 10: Why we worry about things that haven’t happened - • #10 Why we worry about...
Overcoming Worry & Anxiety 11: The most surprising tool to help you worry less - • #11 The most surprisin...
Overcoming Worry & Anxiety 12 - A Worry Management Recipe - • #12 A Worry Management...
Overcoming Worry & Anxiety 13 - Dealing with Complex Worries - • #13 What are Complex W...
Overcoming Worry & Anxiety 14 - Maintaining Progress and Preventing Worry Relapse - • #14 How You Can PREVEN...
For more information about Dr. Rami Nader, visit: tinyurl.com/y3eu5dfw
For more information about Dr. Michel Dugas' work on Generalized Anxiety Disorder and an excellent workbook, visit: tinyurl.com/yxf78mnt
DISCLAIMER: The videos provided here on this UA-cam Channel are for informational use only. The video content provided is not intended to be a substitute for professional advice, diagnosis, or treatment. These videos do not establish a psychologist/client relationship. Always seek the advice of your doctor or mental health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read or seen on this channel. Dr. Rami Nader assumes no duty to correct or update the video content nor to resolve or clarify any inconsistent information that may be a part of the video content. Reliance on any content is solely at the viewer’s risk. Dr. Rami Nader hereby disclaims any and all liability to any party for any direct, indirect, implied, punitive, special, incidental or other consequential damages arising directly or indirectly from any use of the said video content, which is provided as is, and without warranties.
Which forms of intolerance of uncertainty do you relate to the most?
making decision on career. i really struggled during that time on making the right decision and want it to be certain.
also i remember my friend trying to manage everything by himself on atrip together just to make himself feel certain. and he was quite aware of it.
7, 8, 9 and 12
Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge and expertise. I find myself in almost every situation that you described. It is exhausting constantly worrying about things that might never happen, getting ready for the worst case scenario in every situation, being unable to make a decision and even once a decision is made doubting that it was the right one. I am looking forward to the next video.
Thank you for your kind words and I am glad you are finding the videos helpful. One important thing to remember is that the excessive worry did not start over a few days or few weeks, so these tools aren't going to immediately stop the excessive worry. But the more you use them and the more you practice them, the better you will be able to manage your worries.
I have become aware of how I have avoided uncertainty for years and not at 80 the vultures are on the bedstead. It has taken me four years to go to the dentist and I went yesterday to discover things were not as bad as I thought.I Thank you for. these videos a good way to start my day.
The most accurate descriptions of what is going on in my head. Million thanks for making this video. What was said to me as symptoms of ADHD was intolerance of uncertainty and its manifestation.
This umbrella of explanation gives a lot of hope that I can address those.
Because understanding the problem is the first step in solving it.
Hi Praveen - glad you found the video helpful.
Negative consequences of uncertainty is always far more painful than positive consequenses are positive.
This video opened my eyes about uncertainty, I learned a lot about myself. This will help me to overcome uncertainty in Trading.
This is so helpful to me as a sufferer of GAD and as a trainee counsellor. Thank you for highlighting an area of my life and so many others’ which is often left unspoken. Your videos on GAD have been so educational and enlightening for me.
Cheers, from England, mate.
Hi Edward - thank you for the very encouraging feedback! This was exactly why I started this channel and started making these videos. I am very pleased you found the videos helpful!
Hard-hitting video in a good way. I checked the box on almost every example. Glad to finally know, yet sad that this dynamic has impacted my life so broadly for so long. But time to find a better path. Thank you.
Glad it was helpful!
God bless you, thank you so much for making these videos!
You are very welcome! Thank you for the encouraging words.
Thank you doctor. I am looking forward to next one...
You're welcome. I'm glad you found it helpful.
You are a great teacher Dr Nader.
Thank you for your kind words.
Very insightful and thought provoking. Looking forward to the next video. Thank you for sharing.
Hi Angela - I'm glad you found it helpful.
These are brilliant videos. You explain things so well. I am finding them really useful. Thank you. John 🎉
Hi John - thank you for your kind and encouraging words. I'm glad you have found the videos helpful!
After watching your series of videos, i felt you are like a mirror in front of me. I am really shocked about explained manifests and unfortunately having all of them. But fortunately, i understood all of these has a meaning now and they have a common root cause. This is a very good first step for me to understand the mechanism.Thanks a lot !
You're very welcome. I wish you all the best in your efforts to feel better.
I am going to do a HPV cervical cancer test tomorrow and I find myself super anxious about it because I can’t tolerate the uncertainty
Another very informative video. Thank you!
You're welcome!
Excellent episode Doc!
Glad you found it helpful!
That was informative and helpful thank you 👍
I'm glad you found it helpful.
sir what can I say just from the bottom of my heart thank may God reward well for the amazing work
Thank you for your kind words. I'm glad you found this video helpful.
Wow, thanks for breaking this one down, Dr. Rami. Really, really helpful in that I now better understand my behavior around avoidance/uncertainty and that of others which in turn helps me to not over-personalize others' behavior. Your talks are helping identify a whole lot of 'stinkin' thinkin'./neg. self-talk. Really grateful👍
I found myself in just about every one of these points,some more than others. Seems like the two that got to me the most were about caretaking of others and second guessing.. Without going into it, neither have served me very well. I'll tell you right now I've gone in and edited this comment at least five times and hope this is the last one because I'm exhausted from this all to common behavior. 🙄
What I also find helpful about CBT approach is it is forward focused. Not alot of psychoanalysis. There is a place for looking at where we came from, however, its a place where I,for one, can easily get stuck.
My mom had a lot of stinkin' thinkin' and CBT helped her. Maybe this is why it's resonating with me cuz we had so much in common. And that's as far back as I'm going to go with it LOL
Hi Michele - thank you for sharing your experiences. The fact that CBT is present focussed is one of the things I really like about it. Not so focused on the past, but rather focused on what's happening now and what we can do to change things.
I am stuck in a constant cycle of excessive information gathering and second-guessing myself. My confidence in my ability to make decisions is in tatters. I'm really looking forward to your next video as the methods I've tried to be more tolerant of uncertainty are really difficult to stick to.
I'm planning on doing a series of videos on how to recognize and manage all of the various manifestations of intolerance of uncertainty.
@@DrRamiNader amazing! Thank you!
Amazing
Glad you found it helpful.
Sending love from Edmonton Alberta Canada 🇨🇦. Thank you
You're welcome! Thanks for supporting the channel!
Doctor
I appreciated your insight. My uncertainty only revolves around the health of my loved ones. For example, if my wife has a medical exam and there is an issue (even if the doctor believes it is just to ensure over abundance of caution). I will go to a 10 level of fear, terror and anxiety. I am no use to her or to anything. I will research for hours and hours. The thing I hate the most is when I “what if” and she says why did I put that thought in her head. I die at that point. So I just shut up. Maybe you can address that kind of uncertainty in a future video.
Thanks.
Hi Steve - I plan to do a series of videos on each of the manifestations of intolerance of uncertainty in more detail, so please keep an eye out for them.
I'm the person who can't fully commit for sure. This was helpful
That's a very common manifestation of intolerance of uncertainty. I hope you find the upcoming videos helpful as well.
amazing explanation
I'm glad you found it helpful.
6:17 W😳W
#4 AND ESPECIALLY 5!!
These manifestations are. ABSOLUTELY MY LIFE....UP UNTIL NOW!!
Glad you found the video helpful!
This has been my life for many years.... can you please discuss how to work through fears of tragedy such as natural disasters, accidents, acts of violence etc... . Can you also
Explain why some people internalize and become anxious from seeing tragedy or accidents happen to others . Thank you for your time and dedication!
If I understand your comment correctly, I think you are talking about type 2 worries (worries about things that have not happened and may never happen). I will get to skills exclusively for type 2 worries in future videos. If what you are talking about is worries and anxiety related to actual traumatic experiences, that seems more related to PTSD and I can add that to my list of future videos to do.
Very interesting video. Thanks a lot! It gives me much to think about. I procrastinate a lot, but I haven't understood the reasons yet. The more important a task is to me, the more I put it off. That's probably similiar to not committing fully to the task. In case of failure I'll always have a handy excuse.
Hi Kari - Glad you were able to relate. In the next video, I will be getting more into what you do once you recognize the various ways intolerance of uncertainty has weaved it's way into your life.
@@DrRamiNader
I'm already curious! Thank you :-)
It was very helpful. Would apperciate if you can make a full video of the solution
Hi Negin - at the end of this video series, I plan to put together a mega-video, with all of the worry management skills all together in one video.
@@DrRamiNader hi Dr. Nader , that is a very good news. Looking forward to it.
Hmmmm. I try to do everything myself because I don't want the burden of indebtedness. It's a utilitarian view of relationship. "Due to your kindness, I now owe you" and that makes me uncomfortable. So I've been thinking about all the ways we are NOT self sufficient, and all the ways we depend on others. And, thinking about the fact that others enjoy helping and enjoy receiving my gratitude. And thinking about the fact that being grateful to others does not impoverish me.
That's a good point. The key is that it's not so much the behavior itself that determines if something is intolerance of uncertainty, it's the motivation behind the behavior. For more information, check out this video: ua-cam.com/video/c5ahZ7B9UtI/v-deo.html
Would you make a video about the childhood origins of intolerance of uncertainty? Thanks
That's a great idea. I'll add it to my list of future videos.
6:14
The "what ifs" and the expectation of a negative consequence or outcome... Could it be perfectionism?
Excellent observation. Perfectionism and intolerance of uncertainty dovetail. If you can make it perfect, you can eliminate uncertainty. But just like it is impossible to ever fully eliminate uncertainty, it's impossible to achieve perfection all the time
I recently realized that I definitely exhibit the behaviour of half-heartedness as a result of fear of failure. I have the believe, possibly conscious, that the harder I try to achieve something, the more disappointed and sad I will be if the results don't comeback positive. This is particularly the case for things like preparing for job interviews. It can get as bad as procrastination and blatant self sabotage. What can I do to rectify this?
I'm going to be doing videos on how to address each of the types of intolerance of uncertainty, so keep an eye out for that in the future. However, what you are also identifying are some common beliefs about the usefulness of worry and I discuss these and how to challenge these beliefs in a couple of videos: ua-cam.com/video/Ss-lybWi5wE/v-deo.html and ua-cam.com/video/x0c4Am9gj4I/v-deo.html Hope that helps.
Hello Dr Rami,Thanks a lot for this Vedio,It helped me a lot,Sir i Request u to show some tools to manage muscle tension due To Anxiety,I have GAD so I have A Lot of muscle tension....
This is an interesting question. If you are looking for tools to manage the symptom of excessive muscle tension, there are A LOT of videos on relaxation skills and progressive muscle relaxation that you can find on UA-cam. I don't usually teach those types of skills to my clients, because a) they can find excellent videos on how to do this online and b) relaxation skills are good, but they are only symptom management. It may temporarily help the muscle tension, but doesn't address the cause of the muscle tension, which is the worry itself. This worry management program is designed to help a person better manage the worry and, as a result, the muscle tension will improve as a person worries less. I hope that makes sense.
Thanks Dr Rami
I'm curious on your opinion on ACT in this context. Do you feel it's complimentary to this CBT approach or contradictory? The non-committal manifestation really seems to line up with "living by one's values" in ACT. This was really good work by the way. I work in the therapeutic world myself and am familiar with basic modalities, as well as having my own struggles and treatment with anxiety. I had never thought about these manifestations of intolerance of uncertainty, they were very eye opening.
I think ACT can certainly compliment CBT, particularly in situations where the person is unable to change the situation and the focus is more on acceptance. I'm primarily a CBT guy, so that's always where my inositol focus is going to be.
@@DrRamiNader Thanks. I guess that begs the question, just how "changeable" is anxiety? Do you see it as something that can be ultimately "overcome" -is that the point here, or simply something you can reduce and learn to peacefully co-exist with?
@@zachariahz You are asking an excellent question. Anxiety is not an emotion we want to eliminate. Anxiety is actually a highly adaptive emotion in situations when a person is faced with actual threat or danger. What we strive for is to manage and reduce anxiety that is excessive to the situation. As I mention in one of the worry videos, the goal is not to eliminate worry, but to better manage worry so that it does not get out of control and interferes in a person's life.
Amazing! As if you know me personally Dr. I've all the manifestations you've outline. I can see more clearly now on how intolerance of uncertainty is behind my own behaviors all these years. THANK YOU!
You are very welcome. Glad you found the video instructive and helpful. If you haven't already, I encourage you to check out the video on how to build tolerance for uncertainty: ua-cam.com/video/UL8ayC0Fe9Y/v-deo.html Hope that helps.
@@DrRamiNader Yes Dr., I've just finished watching the said video. I will start practicing the 2 strategies outlined in it. Thanks again.
@@pusukgoreng5 You're welcome. Best of luck with the skills and thank you for supporting the channel!
Hello Dr Rami,Thanks A Lot For Ua Online Help,It saved Me,I have GAD,Sir i want To know How Emotions Take part In GAD,I cant control my emotions,Sometimes it feels i must stay with the particular person and Sometimes it feels i must leave her,So Confused about how to make Decisions and it ruins my life,Any Remedy about how to control emotions and live a good life,Any suggestion about how to make good Decisions in life..
It really depends on the situation. If there is a problem that needs to be solved that's not being addressed, then the emotion is a sign that you need to do something to fix it. I'll be discussing that in an upcoming video.
Do you do one on ones?
I cannot provide psychological services to anyone who does not live in BC, Canada.
@@DrRamiNader that's unfortunate 😔 💔
Hey...I am Binish from India...I have OCD and would like to overcome...can we work together to make a transformation video that explains different stages that I go through so that it would inspire people? It actually took almost half an hour for me to type this. Funny thing is I dont have anytging to offer but you can post the video on your channel
Sorry, but as I am only licensed to practice in Canada, I cannot provide treatment to people in other countries. My goal with these videos is to help provide people with more information and tools that they can try, but the videos are not a replacement for therapy if you need therapy.
Why do negative thoughts arise
Both negative and positive are thoughts y positive thoughts make happy and negative make sad deppreses
Why happy moments we smile once and negative moments we recap again again and feel sad
sleep disturbance due to excessive worry and how to address it
I'm planning to do a video at some point about sleep hygiene. But, I think it is important to note that there's little someone can do to improve disrupted sleep due to worry without addressing the worry. Sleep problems are a symptom of excessive worry. If you are better able to manage and control the worry, sleep should improve.
Thank you for this detailed explanation! I am a new subscriber! You said we should do exposure to uncertainty to see what will happen. Im not sure I feel so hopeful about "exposure" for "certain worries." What if a person has a worry that their husband will cheat on them. Should they do an exposure experiment and send the husband to the strip club to see what will happen? Should they put the temptation in front of the husband and see if he cheats on them? Do they really want to test him and his loyalty? I feel like some exposure is legitimate, for example if I am afraid of bees, OK i can go and be exposed to them in nature. But other exposure is either dumb (like the husband example) or dangerous like, for example if I worry that a shark will attack me off the coast of South Africa where great white sharks are prevelant, should I test nature and go swim there to see if the shark will really come? I know theres a chance a shark wont show up. But what if he does come and eat me. Then what did this experiment of exposure do exactly? Ill be dead. LoL. Then the second issue is: In my mind it doesnt matter if I do exposure. So lets say i worry about hiking in the wilderness and whether im going to fall and injure myself or a bear will eat me or I will trip on a rock. I can expose myself to hiking 2, 3, 4,5 or 10 times per month or year. But then what if on the 11th time there really is a bear that comes and eats me. I feel like being exposed to a situation is nice and all, but it does not eradicate my worry. Im still going to say to myself what if that bear comes on my next trip to the mountains, he didnt get me this time but suppose he comes the next time or next time? And of course there could never be a bear. A bear could never show up and eat me. But in our anxious worrisome mind we always wonder what if there is a 1% chance a bear is there. Does this make sense? Hope you understand that A. Not all exposure is appropriate and B. Even if we do exposure maybe we wont get hurt the first time, but there may be pain, suffering, hell to pay the next time or next time. This is just how a worried person thinks and calculates things. 👍Great presentation overall.
Thanks for subscribing! You bring up a number of excellent points. I guess the key issue for me is that tolerating uncertainty and doing exposure to uncertainty is different that being reckless. It's not tolerating uncertainty to blindfold myself and try to cross a busy highway on foot. That's stupidity. Likewise, swimming in shark infested waters. With the example of the bear eating you, if you lived in an area where bears were eating people 1/11 times that people went out on hikes, then you should be concerned about hiking and should avoid it, because the risk of danger is very high. However, if the prevalence of bear attacks is 1/100000, then you're probably not keeping yourself all that safe by avoiding hiking - you're probably just limiting yourself from enjoying a "safe" activity that you would otherwise be doing if it wasn't for your worry. The next video will talk more about how to do these tolerating uncertainty experiments, so I hope you will find that helpful. Excellent points.
@@DrRamiNader its a good example doctor.In reality, it's impossible to know the exact probability of a bear appearing, so how do I know this exposure exercise is appropriate or reckless?
I wish you could be my therapist
Hi Kirk - thank you for your kind words. That is really nice to hear.
Reply on my comment sir.which I have commented on your third video.there are three comments and I want reply for the first one.the comment for which you have to click the read more .for seeing whole comment.and you can also easily guess that by seeing the time at which I have posted it.because it is first one.
argh...stop describing me!
The thing is, the more you can relate to this stuff, the better, as you can use the worry management skills in this video series to make changes that can have significant benefits. I hope it helps.
Bruh.. I'm 9 for 12.