Is anxiety contagious? 5 ways to protect your mental space

Stress & Anxiety

Jul 2

Written By Calm Editorial Team

Clinically reviewed by Dr. Chris Mosunic, PhD, RD, MBA

The cold or flu isn't the only thing that you can catch from other people. Learn why anxiety can be "contagious", how to recognize it, and 5 tips to protect your calm.

If you’ve ever started to feel anxious after spending time with an anxious person, then you may have experienced the “contagious” nature of anxiety.

Maybe you’re hanging out with a friend who’s buzzing with anxiety, and, suddenly, you start to feel anxious too? Or maybe you start to spiral after a call with a stressed-out family member or a venting session from a friend or partner.

If your palms are starting to sweat just reading this, don’t worry. There’s nothing wrong with you. Your brain is just wired to sync with the people around you, so absorbing other people's feelings is natural. With that said, if you find yourself “catching’ anxiety from others a bit too often, there are ways to protect your inner peace.

Here’s how to stay rooted in your own emotional baseline — even when the people around you aren’t.

What is contagious anxiety?

Contagious anxiety is a real psychological and physiological response that happens when you internalize someone else’s stress, tension, or emotional overwhelm. Basically, when you’re around someone who’s visibly anxious, your nervous system often picks up on those cues.

If you see someone who’s pacing, talking fast, or fidgeting, this could cause you to feel anxious, even if you’re not consciously aware of it. This is because your body can mirror other people’s emotions. As a result, your jaw might tense, your breath might get shallow, and your heart might beat faster.

This phenomenon is part of something researchers call emotional contagion, or the process of “catching” emotions through observation and interaction. Just like a yawn can ripple through a room, so can a mood. Especially anxiety.

Here are a few ways contagious anxiety can show up in your life:

At work: If a team member panics about a deadline, this can then put everyone else on edge.
In families: When your parent’s constantly worried, this can set the tone for the rest of the house.
On social media: Seeing someone endlessly posting about the state of the world could send your nervous system into hyperdrive.
In friendships: If you're the emotional sponge for someone else’s spirals, this might make you spiral too.

Because it’s often subtle, contagious anxiety can fly under the radar. You might not realize you’ve absorbed someone else’s stress until your body starts sending up flares — tight chest, foggy head, irritability, insomnia.

But just because someone else is anxious doesn’t mean you have to be. Learning to look for the signs and signals of contagious anxiety is the first step towards protecting your mental space and reclaiming some internal quiet in a very noisy world.

Why is anxiety contagious?

There are many reasons anxiety can be contagious. Typically, it’s a mix of biology, psychology, and social conditioning. In other words, anxiety is contagious because our bodies are designed to keep us safe and socially synced.

Here are four of the most common reasons why people “catch” anxiety:

1. Mirror neurons: Inside your brain, there’s a system called mirror neurons. These powerhouses fire not only when you experience something, but also when you observe someone else going through it. If your coworker’s anxious about giving a presentation, your mirror neurons can light up like you’re the one at the podium.

2. Your nervous system’s constantly scanning for threat: From an evolutionary perspective, being attuned to others’ fear was a survival tool. If one person in your tribe sensed danger and started panicking, it made sense for everyone to react fast. These days, that survival response is still hardwired.

3. Proximity matters: Typically, you’re more likely to absorb anxiety from people you’re close to, both emotionally and physically. If your family or roommates are anxious, and you’re around them, you’re chances of getting anxious are more likely.

4. Chronic exposure can lead to chronic stress: When you’re around someone who’s always on edge, you may find yourself feeling more tense and irritable — even when your life’s relatively stable. Over time, this constant exposure to their anxiety can then take a real toll on your mental health.

How to avoid contagious anxiety: 5 tips for shielding yourself

Most people get anxious from time to time. That includes your partners, friends, kids, and strangers on the street. So it’s not realistic, or even desirable, to try to avoid being around people with anxiety so you don’t “pick it up” from them.

Instead, you can learn how to hold onto your inner calm even when a person next to you is spiraling. With a bit of awareness and some practice, you can stay in your own experience no matter what’s going on around you.

Here are five ways to better protect your mental space.

1. Name it to contain it

When you start to feel anxious, take a pause and ask: “Is this anxiety mine?”

Naming what you’re feeling—and recognizing that it might not be yours—can curb the anxiety spiral. It also creates space between you and your anxious feelings.

The next time you leave a tense interaction, jot down a quick note to yourself like, “I felt off after that call. Was it my stress or theirs?” This practice can help you start spotting patterns and make it easier for you to detach emotionally next time.

2. Set energetic boundaries

If you consistently find yourself overwhelmed after—or while—hanging out with someone, set some boundaries. Boundaries can be silent and internal, no dramatic speech required..

What this could look like:

Visualize a bubble or invisible force field around you before entering a stressful space.
Step away briefly after a heavy talk to breathe or get fresh air.
Press your feet into the floor to stay grounded during a vent session.

💙 Listen to Boundaries with Tamara Levitt to better protect your inner peace.

3. Practice nervous system care daily

When your nervous system is in survival mode, other people’s stress can “stick” harder. But when you’re regularly tending to your internal calm, you’re more likely to stay balanced.

To ground yourself during the day, try:

Doing a breathwork exercise by inhaling for four seconds and then exhaling for six seconds.
Shaking out your limbs after a stressful meeting.
Resetting your senses by holding a warm mug, splashing cold water on your face, or using a scent that helps you come back to yourself.

Here are 18 other grounding techniques that can help relieve your anxiety.

4. Protect your peace

If your brain’s already overloaded, tuning into everyone else’s panic can be a recipe for burnout. So, choose what information and energy you’d like to take in.

To protect your mental energy, try:

Muting group chats when they get overwhelming.
Stepping away from 24/7 news or emotionally charged content.
Giving yourself a cooldown window after intense conversations — you could put your phone in a different room and just look out the window for a few minutes.

💙 Create more balance for yourself by listening to the Build Healthier Phone Habits series with Dr. Aditi Nerurkar.

5. Seek out co-regulators

Emotional states are contagious, but calm is too. Make an effort to spend more time with people who settle your system instead of sending it into overdrive.

Some good examples of co-regulators are:

The friend who holds space without jumping to worst-case scenarios.
The coworker who stays steady under pressure.
The partner who reminds you to breathe — and not panic.

Is anxiety contagious FAQs

Can I really “catch” anxiety from someone else?

It’s possible to temporarily absorb someone else’s anxious emotional state. This usually happens through a process called emotional contagion, where your nervous system picks up on cues like tone of voice, body language, and facial expressions.

Over time, especially if you’re constantly around high-anxiety individuals, it can start to feel like their stress is becoming your stress.

Why do I feel anxious after talking to certain people?

Certain people tend to carry a cloud of tension with them, and being in their presence can stir up feelings that weren’t there before. You might find your heart racing or your mind spinning after a conversation with them, usually because your body is subconsciously reacting to their unspoken signals.

Their catastrophizing or subtle panic activates your mirror neurons and kickstarts your stress response. If you regularly walk away from someone feeling worse, it might be time to reassess how you engage with them.

How can I stop taking on other people’s stress?

A good way to stop taking on other people’s stress is to notice when it’s happening and give yourself permission not to absorb it. You can still be kind and supportive without turning into someone’s emotional sponge.

Try grounding practices like, focusing on your breath while listening to them and visualizing a mental boundary. Also, whenever possible, remind yourself that you’re allowed to protect your bandwidth.

What is the 5 minute rule for anxiety?

This is a grounding tool that’s especially helpful when anxiety feels overwhelming. All you have to do is commit to doing one soothing activity for five minutes.

You could practice a breathing exercise, go outside for fresh air, or even stretch. The basic idea is to shift your state just enough within five minutes to interrupt the anxious loop.

What’s the difference between empathy and emotional contagion?

Empathy is the ability to understand and connect with someone else’s feelings. On the other hand, emotional contagion is when you feel those emotions in your own body, sometimes even to the point where you lose track of your own emotional baseline.

In general, empathy creates connection, whereas emotional contagion tends to create overwhelm.

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Calm Editorial Team