Anxiety is a complex and multifaceted experience. For some, anxiety might manifest as constant worry, while for others, it might come in the form of physical symptoms like a racing heart or sweaty palms. For some it can be more chromic and have a deeper and longer lasting impact. The word anxiety itself can mean different things to different people, making it a highly personalised experience.
What is Anxiety?
When addressing anxiety in counselling, one of the first steps is to understand how it works. Anxiety often stems from our biological makeup, personal worldview, personal experience, coping mechanisms, and external stressors.
These factors combined can create a whirlwind of emotions, but anxiety commonly revolves around fear of the unknown.
“What if” questions – What if this happens? What if I don’t succeed? What if it all goes wrong? – are central to the anxiety experience.
Understanding how our thoughts contribute to anxiety is key to managing it.
Chronic anxiety is a little different however. This can typically stem from past trauma, events and past fears that are not dealt with in turn gets ingrained as anxiety. We will look at this in more detail in a later post.
The Role of Thoughts in Anxiety
Anxiety is often the result of our mind’s response to uncertainty. Our brains are hardwired to identify potential threats, which in turn can trigger anxious thoughts. These thoughts can spiral into a cycle of fear, causing physical symptoms and overwhelming worry.
But why do our thoughts have such a powerful role in anxiety? To answer that, we need to look at the science behind it.
The Science of Anxiety
Anxiety has a biological foundation. When we step outside our comfort zone, our body’s natural response is to protect us from perceived danger. This is where the fight, flight, or freeze response comes into play. It’s a survival mechanism, originally designed to keep us safe from physical threats.
In modern life, this response can be triggered by non-life-threatening situations, such as public speaking or job interviews. Even though there is no real danger, our brain reacts as if there is, flooding the body with stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline. These chemicals prepare us to either fight the danger or run away, resulting in the physical symptoms of anxiety—racing heart, shallow breathing, and nervous fidgeting.
Why Anxiety is Normal
It’s important to understand that anxiety is a normal and natural part of being human. Our brains are designed to seek out potential threats to keep us safe, but sometimes, it misinterprets challenges as dangers. For example, while public speaking feels threatening, it’s not a life-or-death situation. However, our brain triggers the same survival response, leading to heightened anxiety.
Coping with Anxiety
In counselling, we explore ways to manage this response and reduce anxiety’s impact on our daily lives. While anxiety is hardwired into our biology, it’s possible to learn techniques that help calm the mind and body.
Key takeaways:
- Anxiety is a normal response to perceived danger.
- Experiencing anxiety does not mean something is wrong with you.
- Anxiety stems from our body’s natural fight, flight, or freeze response.
- Our thoughts, particularly “what if” scenarios, can trigger this response, even in non-dangerous situations.
- Physical symptoms like a racing heart and shallow breathing are signs of the body’s attempt to protect you from perceived threats.
How Counselling Helps with Anxiety
Counselling for anxiety focuses on helping individuals understand their triggers and develop healthier coping mechanisms. By working with a trained counsellor, you can begin to recognize the false alarms that anxiety sets off and learn tools to calm both the mind and body. It’s a chance to develop a personalized approach, feel like you’re back in control of the anxiety, rather the other way around.
Moving forward we will look to explore this complex topic in more depth including practical tools to help managing and work with Anxiety.
Take care and all the best
Gareth