The role of ritual behavior in anxiety reduction

THE ROYAL SOCIETY

Anxiety is the emotion we feel with the building anticipation of an uncertain future. I find it useful to give it a name right now as each day seems to present another problem outside my control. On the other hand, by giving your brain something it can predict you effectively decrease some of the anticipation of the day.

In this study, 75 participants were given the anxiety-inducing task of speaking in public. To really up the stakes, researchers told them their speech would be “recorded and assessed by a government expert."

Hold up, how do you measure something subjective like anxiety? Glad you asked. In this study they used the GAD-7 questionnaire, self-reported levels, and even physical readings from a heart-rate monitor. This is the same way I was trained to measure anxiety in a clinical setting, and hints at the usefulness of biofeedback training.

Once thoroughly stressed, the group was divided and either sent to their local temple (ritual group) or were told to sit and relax (control group). The folks in the ritual group reported lower perceived anxiety along with a higher heart rate variability, suggesting lower psychological and physical anxiety.

MY TAKE
One way to manage anxiety is to participate in a ritual. Religion does a good job encouraging this through prayer, singing, and routine gatherings, but any regular practice is fair game here. Specifically, you want to provide your brain with a sense of a predictable structure, which you may have noticed is pretty important right now. A ritual gives your brain the sense of control and structure it craves, therefore alleviating anxiety–an answer to prayer.