Fear of the unknown: are you more sensitive to uncertainty than others?

MA lot of the fear in my life has emerged from this question what if. What if my headache has a more sinister origin? What should I do if I go to a holiday party and don’t know anyone? What should I do if I publish an article and everyone hates it?

I want to be sure of what’s going to happen, and any uncertainty makes me squirm. In other words, I have an intolerance for uncertainty.

Every day we face uncertainty about our health, what others think of us, our careers or what soup will be served for lunch. Yet some people shy away from these unknowns more than others. Since the early 1990s, psychologists have isolated intolerance of uncertainty, or IU, as a trait linked to various forms of anxiety, depression and substance abuse. IU doesn’t directly cause all of these conditions, but having a higher intolerance to uncertainty is a common experience going through them.

IU works in the same way as, for example, a food intolerance. When some people eat a small amount of dairy, their stomach becomes upset. Others can finish a bowl of macaroni and cheese and feel fine. It’s the same with uncertainty: some people are just more sensitive to it.

Here’s how to determine if your intolerance for uncertainty is high and what you can do about it.

How the intolerance of uncertainty scale works

IU exists on a spectrum; it is not the case that everyone is either completely intolerant of uncertainty or completely okay with it. Some may be somewhat bothered by insecurity, while others may have moderate intolerance, says Naomi Koerner, an associate professor of psychology at Ryerson University. “And some other people suffer a lot from life’s uncertainties.”

IU was defined as a specific characteristic in the 1990s by researchers Mark Freeston, Michel Dugas and others at Laval University in Quebec. They sought to understand the foundations of generalized anxiety disorder and excessive worry. Freeston said they developed the Intolerance of Uncertainty Scale based on the suspicion that there was a cognitive signature from those experiences.

The scale asked people to what extent they agreed with statements such as: “I should be able to organize everything in advance,” “I always want to know what the future holds for me,” and “Uncertainty makes life unbearable.”

How intolerance of uncertainty affects our mental health

Too much unfamiliarity leads to some stress for almost everyone. “Most people score average for IU on a self-reported basis,” says Jayne Morriss, lecturer at the University of Southampton’s School of Psychology.

Being intolerant of uncertainty can be helpful for survival, says Brady Nelson, associate professor of clinical psychology at Stony Brook University. “It keeps us alert and alert in uncertain and unknown environments that may be associated with danger or threat,” he said. But when intolerance becomes very common and becomes a dominant part of the way you interact with the world, it can lead to anxiety, worry and avoidance.

People who score high on the scale suffer from even minor instances of insecurity. It makes them stressed, irritable, or anxious, and they are motivated to avoid it at all costs, or control their environment to reduce uncertainty as much as possible.

According to Koerner, this can manifest as overplanning, not allowing spontaneity, repeatedly reassuring or searching for information, and avoiding anything new or unfamiliar. Someone with high IU may repeatedly make lists, plan conversations in their head, look at food menus before going to a restaurant, or triple check their driving routes. People with higher intolerance may also react more impulsively to events, in order to resolve the uncertainty as quickly as possible.

For people with high levels of this trait, uncertainty isn’t just unpleasant, Koerner said: “It’s more like, ‘I can’t stand it, I can’t deal with it.’”

There are many types of uncertainty

Uncertainty is not just one thing. Sometimes you don’t know what will happen, but you are aware that you will have to deal with uncertainty. In other situations, you may not expect the unknown at all. Uncertainty can take place in the external world, such as an uncertain outcome, or within us, such as feeling uncertain.

Researchers are now getting to the bottom of these differences. Some people are more upset by future IP, or by the anticipation of uncertainty. Others have a higher inhibitory IU, meaning they freeze or cannot act when they experience uncertainty.

“Both types of individuals will tell you that they hate uncertainty, but the way they process and respond to uncertainty can be vastly different,” Nelson said. To date, research has focused on how IU manifests in an individual, but there are likely systemic factors that make people more sensitive to uncertainty, such as financial scarcity, exposure to conflict or discrimination.

This intolerance may apply to also positive results. For example, someone with a higher IU would rather have a planned birthday party than a surprise birthday party, even though the surprise party could be more fun. People with higher IE and generalized anxiety disorder symptoms have been shown to do this dampen their positive emotions and enjoy their experiences less, and to think that situations with potentially positive outcomes have more threats attached to them.

How to make peace with uncertainty

People with mental illness who are interested in building their tolerance for uncertainty can work with a therapist to strengthen it directly, rather than exploring or analyzing the substance of their concerns, Nelson said.

In 2016, I was diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder, a condition that is often accompanied by a high intolerance of uncertainty. During OCD treatment, which involved exposure therapy, I confronted my fears and learned how to better cope with not knowing exactly what would happen. For example, instead of focusing on a specific health fear, I might instead confront the uncertainty of whether I will ever get sick.

Because IU is linked to many mental health problems, treating it could help some or all conditions, Nelson hopes. “Rather than trying to treat multiple different mental health conditions, it may be more effective to focus treatment on increasing tolerance for uncertainty, which could alleviate multiple co-occurring problems,” he said.

For milder discomfort with uncertainty that doesn’t cause significant distress or disruption to your life, you can build your own tolerance for uncertainty every day. Look for opportunities to play safely around the edges of your routines. “For example, if you always do things in the same order, do the same familiar things, but in a different order,” says Freeston. If you take the same walk every morning, reverse the route and do it in the opposite direction.

After you’ve experimented with small exposures to uncertainty, challenge yourself to do other new things — nothing “big or scary, just things that are different and that will make you uncomfortable at first,” Freeston said. “Over time, people can learn to tolerate uncertainty and even accept and perhaps embrace the uncertainties of everyday life.”

Life will always be full of unknowns. When faced with the uncertain, you may feel uncomfortable, but there is also an opportunity to try to be curious and open. “Ask yourself, ‘What can I learn here?’” Koerner said. When we can find a way to be excited or intrigued by the unknown, rather than fearful, uncertainty becomes much more palatable.