I equate this anxiety defense mechanism to something I encounter often at work. An email auto-responder. If you work in an office setting, or rely on emails to communicate, you have probably come across these dreaded auto-responses.

A very typical

“Hi,

I am out of the office right now. I will be returning on ___. If your matter is urgent, please contact ‘X’.”

This loosely translates to “I’m probably on a beach, and the last thing I am thinking about is your email. You can pass this along to someone else, or wait until I am back.”

This is the exact system my anxiety has instilled. These frustrated, often misplaced reactions are really relaying the message that I am just not able to deal with what is being said to me. My brain is on a beach somewhere, getting away from the stress of its theoretical cubicle.

When these email responses go out, they send out the exact same message every single time. Regardless of what it is receiving, and the urgency of the message. The same thing happens with my anxiety auto-responder. However its responses are veiled in panic, frustration and confusion.