The Anxiety Response is a Normal Reaction to an Event
Anxiety can be really distressing and colour your everyday experiences with tension and make life generally uncomfortable. Anxiety is fast becoming the most commonly diagnosed mental health disorders.
Sometimes the cause of your anxiety is clear as in phobias or fears and at other times it is less obvious. Imagine you have just run up several sets of stairs. You probably wouldn’t normally notice, however, you are likely to be experiencing several physiological reactions, including a rapid heartbeat, sweaty palms, nausea, fast breathing and so on. You know that these uncomfortable feelings in your body are related to the fact that you have just been physically active. In this case you do not worry about having those sensations. When you are anxious you experience those same physiological reactions! However, often you do not recognise that you are anxious so you end up thinking that something is really wrong.
What is anxiety?
When you feel these sensations it can be helpful to link these to “it’s just anxiety”. Anxiety is a basic human instinct. When we were cavemen (and women) it was really useful to react quickly to danger. This is the body’s way of preparing us to either run away (flight) or aggress (fight). If we didn’t respond appropriately to threats in the environment, either real or imagined, then we would not have survived as a species!
What is the problem then?
The issue we have as humans is that we react to threats that may not always be real. When these threats are not real often they are unhelpful thoughts that serve to increase our physiological response. For example, when the baby is sick telling yourself “he is going to die” is probably not going to help you take appropriate action.
Panic attacks
Getting into a negative head space may even lead to panic attacks. Panic attacks are an intense episode of anxiety characterised by overwhelming feelings and sensations that seem never likely to end.
Generalised anxiety and worry
Sometimes people are in a constant state of hyper-vigilance, that is, they are on the alert for bad things happening. In some instances this has been learnt during childhood, in the case of school yard bullying or abuse in the childhood home. In other cases people are just born more sensitive. Events just impact them more profoundly (which can be both a gift and a burden).
Whether you are clear about what triggers your anxiety or whether it comes upon you out of your awareness Wellbeing Therapy Space can assist you to better support yourself in dealing with your anxiety and take action towards live a “rich, full and meaningful life” Dr Russ Harris (of The Happiness Trap).