Anxiety is a common emotion all of us have experienced at some point in our lives. When we feel anxious a chain of automatic events occur in our bodies, which prepare us for action. This reaction is commonly termed the “fight or flight” response and can be traced back into our evolutionary past. Imagine the primitive caveman threatened by a wild animal- getting ready to run or fight. This is an adaptive behaviour.
However, sometimes our arousal system is triggered too easily (like a defect car alarm), and we experience the same symptoms, as we would experience faced with real danger, which leads to an increase in the speed and depth of breathing. This overbreathing, also called `hyperventilation’, that may lead to the following symptoms: sweating, increased heart rate, shallow breathing, butterflies in the stomach, headaches, and a dry mouth. When the symptoms interfere with our everyday functioning (e.g., avoiding/ fearing situations) then the anxiety has become a problem, and it has to be dealt with.
WHY DO ANXIETY SYMPTOMS BEGIN?
There is usually a combination of causes. Two of the important ones are:
- The amount of stress you are under. Stress can be measured to some extent by the amount of changes that has taken place in your life recently. Being physically tired and having many changes or traumas makes you more vulnerable to anxiety.
- The kind of person you are. Some people have a more sensitive emotional nervous system. Their bodies’ arousal response might be triggered more quickly and take a longer time to calm down. Some people have learned from their parents in their early experiences how to get anxious and how to worry.
WHAT MAINTAINS ANXIETY?
There seems to be 2 main reasons:
- Because of the way you behave, especially because you avoid the situations you fear (e.g., avoid heights).
- Because of beliefs you have about the situations and its consequences (e.g., “If I’m high up I will fall”).
Because you avoid the situation, the irrational or unhelpful thought is allowed to continue because it is never proved wrong.
WHAT CAN I DO TO GET BETTER?
First, it is necessary you understand the link between thoughts, feelings, body symptoms and performance. When you see how these are linked together, and how they create a vicious circle, then you can take control by breaking this cycle.
Ways to break the vicious cycle:
- Body symptoms (e.g., shakes, butterflies in stomach); can be reduced by learning (and practicing) relaxation breathing.
- Feeling symptoms (e.g., worry); can be combated by distraction (e.g., doing something to make yourself feel better) and by challenging your thoughts.
- Thought symptoms; can be combated by learning how to identify and challenge your unhelpful thinking, and to replace it with more helpful thoughts.
