Why Does My Anxiety Keep Going Round In Circles? Understanding the Anxiety Loop

October 09, 2026•11 min read

If you’ve ever felt as though your anxiety keeps feeding itself, you may recognise the pattern.

Something happens, or you have a thought. You notice a feeling in your body. You start paying closer attention to it. Then you begin wondering what the feeling means. That creates more anxious thoughts, which makes you notice the feeling even more.

Before long, you’re caught in a loop.

You might think, “Why am I feeling like this?” Then, “What if something is wrong?” Then you start checking how you feel, analysing what happened, looking for reassurance or trying desperately to make the anxiety go away.

And the more you focus on it, the more noticeable it becomes.

This can leave you wondering:

Why does my anxiety keep coming back?
Why can’t I just switch it off?
Why does one anxious thought turn into ten more?
And how do I break the cycle?

What Is The Anxiety Loop?

There isn’t one single anxiety loop that everyone experiences in exactly the same way. But anxiety can become self-reinforcing when the way we respond to an anxious thought or feeling creates more anxiety.

A simple version might look something like this:

Thought → feeling → attention → reaction → more thoughts → more feeling

For example, you might notice your heart beating faster. You think, “Why is my heart racing?” You pay more attention to your heartbeat. You become worried about what it means. Your body becomes more activated. You notice the sensation even more.

And now the increased sensation seems to confirm the original worry.

The important thing is that the first anxious thought isn’t necessarily the whole problem. What happens next can keep the cycle going.

Anxiety Doesn’t Always Start With A Thought

It’s also worth remembering that the loop can begin in different places:

Sometimes it starts with a thought: What if something goes wrong?
Sometimes it starts with a physical sensation: Why do I feel dizzy?
Sometimes it starts with something that happens around you.
And sometimes you don’t even know what started it. You simply realise that you’re suddenly anxious.

From there, your brain may start trying to work out why.

Why do I feel like this? What happened? What if it gets worse? What’s wrong with me?

That search for an explanation can itself become part of the cycle.

I’ve experienced this myself. When I was dealing with anxiety, I could become very focused on how I was feeling. Instead of simply experiencing a sensation and carrying on, I’d start analysing it. What was causing it? Why was I feeling like this? Was it going to get worse?

And once your attention becomes fixed on anxiety, it’s very difficult not to notice more of it.

Why Does Anxiety Keep Feeding Itself?

Anxiety is designed to get your attention.

When your brain perceives a threat, your body prepares you to respond. Your heart rate can increase, your breathing can change, your muscles can tense and your attention can become more focused on potential danger.

That’s useful when you actually need to respond to a threat.

The problem is that the same alarm system can become activated by thoughts, memories, sensations and imagined future events.

The NHS explains that anxiety is a natural response to situations where we feel threatened or under pressure, and that it can involve both psychological and physical symptoms.

When you’re already anxious, those physical sensations can themselves become something you worry about.

You feel your heart beating faster and become concerned about the sensation. You feel light-headed and wonder what it means. You notice tension in your chest and start monitoring it. You have a strange thought and begin analysing why you had it.

The original trigger may have disappeared, but your attention has remained locked onto the perceived threat.

And that can keep the alarm system active.

The Role Of Checking

One of the things that can keep an anxiety cycle going is checking.

You might check your body. You might check your thoughts. You might check whether you’re still anxious. You might check whether you feel safe. You might search the internet. You might ask someone for reassurance.

And sometimes checking does make you feel better. That’s precisely why it can become such a strong habit.

You feel anxious, so you check something. You get some reassurance, and the anxiety drops.

Your brain can learn: “Checking helped me feel safer.”

So the next time anxiety appears, you’re more likely to check again.

The problem is that you haven’t necessarily learned that the original fear was manageable. You’ve learned that you need to perform the checking behaviour to feel safe.

That can make the cycle increasingly automatic.

What About Avoidance?

Avoidance can work in a similar way.

Imagine you’re anxious about driving somewhere. You decide not to go. The anxiety drops.

That immediate relief can feel like proof that avoiding the situation was the right decision.

But the brain may learn something else: “That situation really was dangerous. I needed to escape.”

The next time the situation comes up, anxiety can become even stronger.

This is one reason psychological approaches to anxiety often focus on changing patterns of avoidance and safety behaviours rather than simply trying to eliminate anxiety.

The NHS explains that avoidance can maintain anxiety, while approaches such as cognitive behavioural therapy can help people gradually change how they respond to feared situations.

That doesn’t mean you should force yourself into situations you’re not ready for. It means that understanding the role of avoidance can be an important part of understanding why anxiety sometimes persists.

Why Trying To Get Rid Of Anxiety Can Keep Your Attention On It

This is one of the biggest things I’ve learned from my own experience with anxiety.

When anxiety appeared, I wanted it gone. I’d notice the feeling and immediately think, “How do I get rid of this?”

So I’d try to calm myself down. I’d analyse the thought. I’d check whether I was feeling better. I’d try to distract myself. I’d look for reassurance.

And although some of those things can sometimes feel helpful in the moment, they also kept my attention focused on the anxiety.

I was still asking the same fundamental question:

“Is the anxiety gone yet?”

And that meant I was constantly monitoring myself for anxiety.

It’s difficult to stop paying attention to something while you’re continually checking whether you’ve stopped paying attention to it.

You Don’t Have To Make Anxiety Disappear To Break The Loop

This is where I think a really important shift can happen.

Breaking the anxiety loop doesn’t necessarily mean getting rid of anxiety.

It means changing what happens after anxiety appears.

You notice the thought. You notice the sensation. You recognise what’s happening. And instead of automatically checking, analysing, escaping or trying to force the feeling away, you create some space.

You might think:

“I recognise this.”
“I don’t need to work it out right now.”
“I can allow this feeling to be here.”
“I can choose what I do next.”

That’s a very different response. The anxiety may still be there, but you’re no longer automatically feeding it.

What Can You Do When You Notice The Anxiety Loop?

The first step is simply recognising it.

If you notice yourself thinking the same thoughts repeatedly, checking how you feel, searching for reassurance or trying desperately to make the anxiety disappear, pause and ask yourself:

“Am I responding to the anxiety, or am I feeding it?”

You don’t need to criticise yourself if you realise you are. You’ve probably been doing it automatically for a long time.

Instead, see whether you can change what you do next.

If you’re checking, see if you can stop checking. If you’re analysing, see if you can let the question remain unanswered. If you’re avoiding something purely because anxiety has appeared, consider whether avoidance is actually necessary. If you’re monitoring your body, see whether you can bring your attention back to what you were doing.

And perhaps most importantly, remember that feeling anxious doesn’t automatically mean you need to do something about the feeling.

Sometimes you can feel it and continue.

What If My Anxiety Keeps Coming Back?

This is another important distinction. If you’ve experienced anxiety for a long time, you may have had periods where you felt much better.

Then one difficult day comes along. The anxious thoughts return. Perhaps you experience a panic attack, and suddenly you think:

“I’m back to square one.”

But anxiety returning doesn’t necessarily mean you’ve lost your progress.

I’ve talked about this before because it’s something I think people with long-term anxiety can misunderstand.

Progress doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll never experience anxiety again.

It can mean that when anxiety appears, you respond differently.

You recognise it sooner. You don’t automatically believe every anxious thought. You don’t immediately start checking. You don’t change all your plans. You don’t spend the entire day trying to get rid of the feeling.

You experience anxiety and discover that you can still choose what happens next.

That’s progress too.

How Hypnosis Can Help Break The Anxiety Loop

This is one of the reasons hypnosis can be useful.

If you’ve spent years responding to anxiety in the same way, you don’t necessarily need more information about anxiety. You may already know exactly what you’re doing.

The problem is that the response has become automatic.

Hypnosis can be used to work with those automatic patterns and rehearse different responses in a focused state of attention.

Rather than simply telling yourself, “Don’t be anxious,” the aim is to develop a different response when anxiety appears.

Notice the feeling.
Pause.
Allow it.
Step out of the old pattern.
Choose what happens next.

That’s the principle behind the hypnosis session I’ve created for this topic.

And it’s important to be realistic about what hypnosis can and can’t do. Research into hypnosis for anxiety is encouraging but not definitive. A 2019 meta-analysis of 17 trials found an overall beneficial effect on anxiety symptoms, while also suggesting hypnosis may be particularly useful alongside other psychological approaches.

So I don’t present hypnosis as a magic cure.

I use it as one way of helping people work with the automatic responses that can become part of their anxiety patterns.

Hypnosis To Break The Anxiety Loop

I’ve created a short hypnosis session specifically around this idea.

The session uses the metaphor of stepping out of a familiar loop and learning that you don’t have to keep walking the same path every time anxiety appears.

You don’t need to make anxiety disappear. You don’t need to fight the feeling. You don’t need to analyse every thought.

Instead, you can begin to practise responding differently.

The central idea is simple:

You don’t have to keep walking the loop.

The more often you respond differently, the less automatic the old response can become.

Listen To The Hypnosis Here

Please don’t listen while driving, operating machinery or doing anything that requires your full attention.

Anxiety Isn’t The Only Thing You Can Notice

One of the things I want people to take away from this is that anxiety can make your attention very narrow.

When you’re anxious, it can feel as though the anxiety is the only thing happening.

The racing thoughts. The physical sensations. The uncertainty. The fear. The need to make it stop.

But you can begin to create some distance between experiencing anxiety and reacting to anxiety.

You can notice the thought without following it.
You can notice the sensation without analysing it.
You can feel uncomfortable without immediately escaping.

And you can remind yourself:

“I’ve been here before. I know what this is. I can choose how I respond.”

That’s a very different relationship with anxiety.

You Can Learn To Respond Differently

If anxiety has been part of your life for a long time, it’s understandable that the old responses feel automatic.

You’ve practised them. You’ve repeated them. Your brain has learned them. But automatic doesn’t mean inevitable, and experiencing anxiety again doesn’t mean you’ve failed.

Sometimes progress is not about never feeling anxious.

Sometimes progress is what you do when anxiety comes back.

You don’t have to make anxiety disappear before you can live your life.

You can learn to experience the feeling without automatically feeding the loop.

And over time, you can begin to discover something important:

Anxiety can be present without being in control.

Anxiety Hypnotherapy In Glasgow And Online

I’m Andy a hypnotherapist based in Glasgow, specialising in anxiety and the automatic patterns that can keep it going.

I work with people in Glasgow and online, helping them develop different responses to anxiety, overthinking and emotional patterns that are getting in the way of their lives.

If anxiety is affecting your confidence, relationships, work, social life or ability to do the things you want to do, you can find out more about my Anxiety Transformation Sessions.

You can also learn more about Fearless Mind and the different ways I work with anxiety on the Fearless Mind homepage.