What is Anxiety? Answering Common Questions on Anxiety
Let's talk about Anxiety.
A big part of treating anxiety is gaining a better understanding of it. When we know more about anxiety, it often loses some of its "hold" on us.
Here are some common questions I get as a therapist about anxiety.
What exactly is Anxiety?
Anxiety is an intense and persistent worry and/or fear about everyday situations. We experience it physically in our body responses, such as rapid heartbeat, muscle tension, shallow breathing, sweating, etc. It is also experienced in our thought process by thinking and visualizing potential negative outcomes. One can often feel "stuck" in a "thought loop" where it is difficult to stop worrying and thinking of potential negative outcomes.
Why do I have Anxiety?
As humans, we are complicated and there is never going to be a clear-cut answer, however, we can definitely understand better what may be contributing to our anxiety.
It's important to understand that anxiety is part of how we are "wired." Our brain's main purpose to is keep us alive and a big part of that is to be prepared for potential threats. A threat is anything that may cause harm to us- physically, emotionally, financially, our "status," etc. This also includes any potential threats to our loved one's well beings.
When our brain identifies a potential "threat," it sets off an "alarm system" for us to be "ready." This includes increasing the production of our stress hormones (cortisol and adrenaline) which create those physical symptoms. Our thought process then usually kicks in to try to make sense of things. This can quickly turn into a feedback loop where we physically feel anxious -> we think anxiously -> then we feel more anxiously -> then we think more anxious, etc.
What starts as a protective measure for us (a warning and to be prepared for a potential threat), can turn into something that can actually be harmful for us (like an anxiety disorder).
What makes this natural defense turn to be harmful?
Part of this can be genetics, in that the area of the brain that sets off our "alarm system" can be more "sensitive" and have more activity, which equals that it will be set off more easily and get ramped up more.
Also, if we grow up with parents/guardians that struggle with anxiety, we are going to observe these anxious behaviors and the ways they coped (or didn't cope) with them and learn that as our foundation for anxiety and stress.
Life experiences can also contribute to anxiety. Trauma, scary events, losses, etc. can all increase one's experience of anxiety.
How do I know if I have anxiety?
To be diagnosed with an anxiety disorder, you need to be seen by a professional health care provider. This can be a mental health therapist or social worker, physician, psychiatrist, or nurse practitioner. With that said, if you are concerned about your anxiety levels, then it sounds like it may be something to get treatment for. If you find that anxiety is interfering with your ability to live your life as you'd want, then therapy can be a great resource to help you.
How do I stop having anxiety?
We can't really stop having anxiety completely. It is an important part of our response to potential threats. With that said, we can certainly learn how to better manage it and decrease our overall level of anxiety. Getting treatment for your anxiety is very important, as most times our anxiety will not go away or lessen on its own. Typically, the opposite happens, in that the ways we attempt to manage our anxiety, actually end up making it worse.
When working with anxiety, it’s important to address both our physiological response (what happens in our body) and our cognitions (our thought process). For a long time, therapy mainly just addressed our thought process. This can be very helpful, however, it ignores a big part of our anxiety experience. When we are experiencing high anxiety, our brain goes into “survival mode” and it’s difficult to access our more rational thought process. We first need to calm our body down, before we can think more clearly. There are a lot of therapeutic approaches that factor in our physiological response and it’s important to find a therapist that incorporates this in their treatment.
How do I stop an anxiety attack/ panic attack?
An "Anxiety attack" is when one experiences a high level of anxiety that comes on quickly. Depending on the severity of it, you may actually be experiencing a Panic Attack. If you find that you are experiencing anxiety and/or panic attacks, then it's really important to get treatment, as it often doesn't just "go away" on its own and will actually get worse as we start to experience more anxiety over when the next attack may happen.
If you are experiencing anxiety and/or panic attacks, you can't really "stop" it when it's happening. You have to ride it out. However, you can learn how to help yourself through it so that it can lower the overall level of it and shorten its duration.
Some of the best ways to help yourself are as follows:
Focus on your breath and try to slow it down and take deep breaths in and slowly release it. You can say to yourself "I breathe in, I breathe out" as you focus on your breath.
Get physically active- this can be to pace quickly, go for a jog, do jumping jacks, etc. This helps burn off that excess adrenaline that gets pumped into our bodies during an anxiety and/or panic attack.
Engage your senses. This can be to do a Grounding Exercise where you name 5 things you see, 4 things you feel, 3 things you hear, 2 things you smell, and 1 thing you taste.
Take a cold shower or splash cold water on your face.
Tell yourself that you are safe and know that this will pass.
Do I worry too much?
It's natural to have worrying thoughts from time to time, especially about important things coming up, big changes, new situations, etc. However, we can quickly get caught in a worry loop where we are constantly thinking of potential negative outcomes. If you think you may worry too much, you probably are, especially if you feel stuck or that you can't stop worrying.
I never worried much before, but now that I have children I worry about everything- why is this and how do I stop it?
When you have a child, your brain is going to be on high alert for the safety of that child. So now, any potential threat to your child is going to feel like a threat to you and your brain and body are going to respond as such. Having a child also includes a huge amount of uncertainty and a lack of control over them, such as how they are feeling, what they need, their physical health, emotional health, etc. Our brain hates uncertainty and lack of control, so it tries to make up for it by worrying. We think, that if we "worry about it, then it won't happen." There is no truth to this magical thinking, it just gives us this illusion of control, when in reality it ends up causing us more stress. We then enter that feedback loop between our physical experience of anxiety and our thought process of it which will continually feed into each other.
If you are a woman and gave birth to your child, there can also be some hormonal changes postpartum that can contribute to an increase in anxiety and worry.
If you find that your worry and/or anxiety is getting in the way of how you want to show up as a parent, it's really important to seek out help.
What does treatment for anxiety look like?
Treatment for anxiety can include therapy and/or medication. Medication has to be prescribed by a medical physician or nurse (this includes a psychiatrist). Many times, people want to work on their anxiety without taking medication, which is completely understandable and for many people very doable.
I have found the best way to treat anxiety is using a combination of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and Bodywork, which includes utilizing mindfulness, breath, and body techniques to connect with and calm your body down.
It is important to note that it does take time to treat your anxiety. By the time many people seek out help, they have already struggled with their anxiety for years. This creates some deeply engrained patterns that take some time to shift.
Read more about what therapy for anxiety looks like here.
Do you have more questions about anxiety? Feel free to comment below or send me an email. Also, if you're in California and you're interested in my therapy services, please reach out. I offer a free 15-minute consultation and can answer any questions you have.
Disclaimer: This is not a replacement for a therapeutic relationship or mental health services. This is for educational purposes only and should be in used only in conjunction in working with a licensed mental health professional. If you are in California and looking for a professional therapist feel free to use the contact me to request an appointment or search Psychology Today for local therapists in your area.
