Tracking Anxiety: How CBT Helped Me Survive the Dentist Chair
Measuring the Monster: Tracking Anxiety in Real-Time
Ever found yourself dreading a task so much that it consumes your entire day? That gnawing feeling when you’re about to face something uncomfortable is all too familiar for many of us in high-pressure tech environments.
Last week, a nagging toothache forced me to confront one of those universally dreaded experiences—an emergency dentist appointment. Rather than letting anxiety take the wheel, I decided to turn this into a practical CBT experiment.
The Distress Scorecard: Quantifying Fear
Armed with nothing but my smartphone’s notes app, I began tracking my distress levels (out of 10) at different stages:
- Walking to the dentist: 4/10 (manageable but present)
- Approaching the building steps: 7/10 (hello, fight-or-flight response!)
- Sitting in the waiting room: 6/10 (slightly better with distraction)
- Hearing drilling sounds from other rooms: 7/10 (anxiety spiking again)
- Finding out the problem and learning it didn’t need treatment: 2/10 (sweet relief)
The Plot Twist: Nothing Was Actually Happening!
Here’s the fascinating bit—throughout these anxiety spikes, nothing was physically happening to my tooth!
The dentist explained the discomfort was simply due to years of overzealous brushing (thanks, younger Benjamin!). With that simple reframing of information, my fear dissolved almost instantly.
Tech Minds and Thought Patterns: The CBT Connection
This experience beautifully illustrates a principle that’s as relevant in our server rooms as it is in dental surgeries: our emotions follow our thoughts, not our circumstances.
As IT professionals, we’re trained to troubleshoot systems logically, yet we often forget to apply the same diagnostic approach to our own thought processes. When facing a production outage or a difficult stakeholder conversation, our anxiety often stems from catastrophic thinking rather than objective reality.
Practical Applications Beyond Dentistry
This technique of distress tracking works brilliantly for workplace scenarios too:
- Before important presentations: Track anxiety levels during preparation, waiting to speak, and during feedback
- During code reviews: Notice how stress fluctuates when receiving different types of feedback
- While learning new technologies: Monitor frustration levels to identify specific learning roadblocks
The Reframing Solution
The power of cognitive reframing—changing how you interpret a situation—can transform your experience. Just as my dental anxiety plummeted when I learned there was no serious problem, many workplace stressors can be defused by challenging our assumptions.
Your Turn: Tracking Your Own Thought Patterns
When did you last feel a metaphorical weight lifted just by looking at a stressful situation differently? Perhaps it was realizing that critical feedback wasn’t personal, or that a project delay wasn’t catastrophic.
I’d love to hear how you’ve applied similar techniques in your professional life. Has reframing a situation ever completely changed your emotional response to a workplace challenge?
Need Help Managing Tech Workplace Stress?
If you’re finding that workplace anxiety, perfectionism, or impostor syndrome is affecting your wellbeing or performance, CBT techniques offer practical, evidence-based strategies.
As someone who’s navigated both the tech leadership landscape and the world of cognitive behavioural therapy, I understand the unique pressures facing IT professionals today.
Book a free 30-minute consultation to discover how CBT can help you overcome workplace stress, improve focus, and develop greater resilience in your tech career.
