Anxiety can be difficult to understand. When a person is overcome by anxiety their body deploys a bodily defense. They may experience shallow breathing, tightening of the chest, tension in the upper body, racing heartbeat, and/or a turning or churning in the stomach. Someone seeing this might be tempted to tell a person, “Hey, just relax- there’s nothing to worry about.” Unfortunately, that doesn’t work and is not helpful.
It is valuable to understand what is happening when someone experiences anxiety or has a general anxiety disorder. Anxiety is one of the most common mental disorders experienced. Most everyone experiences feelings of anxiety at some point in life. Life presents us with unknowns. We are all designed with a fight, flight or freeze response for survival, however, our brain can trick us into thinking we are in danger when in reality it might just be a worry thought over uncertain situations. Rick Hanson, PhD, describes, the mind like Velcro for bad experience and Teflon for good ones. We have the ability to remember what happens in the past and when confronted with uncertainty in the future we project what has happened in the past.
Present orientation can help to eliminate anxiety. When we ruminate about past experiences it can create room for anxiety to grow or when we worry about the future and think, “what if,” this can also lead to greater anxiety. Being in the present moment helps to manage the anxiety. Mindfulness, Grounding techniques, body-oriented approaches, and exposure are strategies and methods shown to address anxiety.
Click here for a helpful guide for managing anxiety.
For more information on anxiety, check out the following resources:
NICAMB – National Institute for the Clinical Application of Behavioral Medicine
Siegel, Ron. Mindfulness and Psychotherapy
Mayo Clinic: Anxiety Disorders