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Safety behaviours in the workplace are a great thing to have, that\u2019s why we have fire safety drills and the like. However, when it comes to our mental wellbeing they are very much part of the problem. In this article I\u2019ll explain why, and how to dismantle such safety behaviours.<\/p>\n
In the context of psychology and mental health, safety behaviours are coping strategies<\/a><\/span> used to \u201csurvive\u201d a perceived threat. This sounds like a good thing on paper, but the relationship between safety behaviours and mental health is paradoxical.<\/p>\n Safety behaviours feel helpful in the moment, but they actually maintain the cycle of anxiety<\/a><\/span>. This is also how they differ from healthy preparation and adaptive coping strategies<\/a><\/span> (Thwaites and Freeston<\/a><\/span>, 2005), because their primary goal<\/a><\/span> is to prevent a feared outcome that is usually unlikely to happen.<\/p>\n This is what makes safety behaviours a double-edged sword. They start off feeling helpful because they are. They help manage the anxiety<\/a><\/span> and discomfort that\u2019s right before us, but that\u2019s also part of the problem. Because in the long-term, that short-term relief in the form of safety behaviours is detrimental to our recovery.<\/p>\n According to Goodson, Patel, Zech, Sala, and Cougle<\/a><\/span>\u00a0(2026), safety behaviours are actions or strategies we adopt to manage anxiety<\/a><\/span> or distress, such as phobias, social anxiety disorder<\/a><\/span>, health anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD<\/a><\/span>). The immediate relief they can provide is addictive, and it\u2019s the easiest way to manage the discomfort we\u2019re trying to manage or avoid. I know, I\u2019ve been there.<\/p>\n But each use of our safety behaviours reinforces the very anxieties they\u2019re meant to mitigate. By sticking with our safety behaviours, we\u2019re not allowing ourselves the opportunity to challenge the very thing that\u2019s causing us to use these safety behaviours (Evans, Chiu, Clark, Waite, and Leigh<\/a><\/span>, 2021).<\/p>\n Like a lot of fear<\/a><\/span> that we can develop, taking the shape of one of the many anxiety disorders<\/a><\/span>, many of them aren\u2019t realistic or are extremely unlikely. But the use of safety behaviours will power up that fear so it never goes away.<\/p>\n Anxiety disorders<\/a><\/span> and safety behaviours work together like a hand in a glove (Meyer, Kirk, Arch, Kelly, and Deacon<\/a><\/span>, 2019). Think of it like throwing fuel on a fire rather than sand or water. In some situations, as I said, there may be a legitimate reason for our safety behaviours, ones that don\u2019t feed the fear<\/a><\/span>. That\u2019s when they become adaptive coping strategies<\/a><\/span> (Thwaites and Freeston<\/a><\/span>, 2005).<\/p>\n Furthermore, figuring out the difference between a safety behaviour and an adaptive coping strategy<\/a><\/span> (Thwaites and Freeston<\/a><\/span>, 2005) is difficult at the best of times, but this is made worse when a chronic health problem is thrown into the mix (Sharpe et al.<\/a><\/span>, 2022).<\/p>\n Someone with social anxiety<\/a><\/span> or phone anxiety may find themselves rehearsing sentences before speaking. They may even write out a little script when they have to make a phone call. I know I did.<\/p>\n Another socially relevant safety behaviour is avoiding eye contact. Again, something common with those of us with social anxiety<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n The one we\u2019re most familiar with is how people with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD<\/a><\/span>) engage in constant checking<\/a><\/span>. But it can be the same with people who have healthy anxiety, who may have to keep checking<\/a><\/span> their symptoms using AI or googling. They could also feel the need to regularly check things like their pulse. Repeated body checking<\/a><\/span> was one of my safety behaviours, to see if I was wet.<\/p>\n Depending on how their anxiety<\/a><\/span> affects a person, it could range from carrying a change of underwear to carrying medication. Just in case.<\/p>\n Another common safety behaviour is to stay close to the exists. Or at least knowing where they all are. For me, it helped to know where the toilets were.<\/p>\n It\u2019s common to either not talk about ourselves, censor what we say, or to just be very quiet in any social situation. This is done to avoid the possibility of embarrassing ourselves or somehow causing someone to judge us in a negative way (Evans, Chiu, Clark, Waite, and Leigh<\/a><\/span>, 2021).<\/p>\n The reason why safety behaviours can be so effective in reinforcing our fears<\/a><\/span> is that we misattribute our success in not having an anxiety<\/a><\/span> or panic<\/a><\/span> episode to the safety behaviours. In season seven, episode 23 of The Simpsons, Lisa and Homer encapsulate this quite well when talking about the Bear Patrol and how a rock can keep tigers away.<\/p>\n\u00a0<\/h6>\n
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Common Safety Behaviours<\/h2>\n
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Rehearsing<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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Body language<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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Checking behaviours<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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Carrying unneeded items<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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Exists<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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Communication<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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The False Credit Problem<\/h2>\n
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