Planning everything in advance and refusing to adapt to unforeseen situations could increase the risk of suffering from anxiety, depression or post-traumatic stress.
- Anxiety disorders are twice as common in women as in men, according to Health Insurance.
- They affect about 15-20% of the population at some point in their lives.
According toNational Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm), one person in five has suffered or will suffer from depression in their lifetime. And this could be favored by certain character traits… Indeed, according to one studypeople who do not like the unexpected and find it difficult to adapt to it would be more at risk of suffering from depressive disorders, anxiety and post-traumatic stress.
Anxiety, depression: accepting uncertainty reduces risk
“Studies show that the more we accept and manage to live with uncertainty, the less risk we have of suffering from anxiety disorders, chronic stress, depression or post-traumatic stress.”, explains Dr. Elissa Epel, professor in the department of psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco, to the magazine Stylist UK.
For our mental health, we should therefore like the unexpected or at least not suffer from it when it happens. “Optimism is good for us, for our health and our stress levels, says Dr. Elissa Epel. However, sometimes it is good, when things are going against us, to have a little defensive pessimism, to protect us from disappointments and surprise us with good results.”.
In other words, the idea would be not to be totally optimistic or pessimistic, but rather realistic and adapt to life’s events. The goal, to be happy, is therefore to be aware that everything may not go as planned.
Certainty “allows our nervous system to relax”
“The human brain loves certainty, emphasizes Dr. Elissa Epel in her book The Seven-Day Stress Prescription. This is what allows our nervous system to relax. When conditions are predictable and stable, we can focus more on thinking, problem-solving and being creative.”
Conversely, in a situation that we do not control, our mind wonders, worries, which can generate anxiety. “When our environments are more predictable, we feel safer”, she continues.
The ideal is therefore to develop, what Dr. Elissa Epel calls, our “uncertainty tolerance”, that is to say accepting things as they present themselves, without too much optimism or pessimism. An everyday job, like a new philosophy to adopt.