Written by: Barry Florin, Executive Contributor
Executive Contributors at Brainz Magazine are handpicked and invited to contribute because of their knowledge and valuable insight within their area of expertise.
The truth is that anxiety is a normal part of everyone’s life. There is absolutely no way you can travel through life without dealing with anxiety. As living creatures, our minds and bodies are programmed to deal with anxiety, but there are times when these programmed responses, designed to protect us, can overreact and get out of hand. When your anxiety levels get out of hand and impact your life negatively, it is time to consider getting some help to find relief, get unstuck and get your life back.
You are not alone with Your Anxiety.
In the UK, one in ten people will suffer from an anxiety disorder at some point; 8,000,000 suffer from anxiety disorders at any time.
Anxiety is the Body's Natural Response to Danger.
Most people have heard of the Body's natural response to danger, the Fight or Flight Response. Although technically, it is correct to refer to it as the Fight/Flight or Freeze response, these physical responses are available and utilised by almost all living creatures, not just humans.
How does the Body Respond to Danger?
Let's step back at least 40,000 years to when Neanderthal people roamed the earth. From a psychological point of view, their lives were much more straightforward than those we live in today; their main concerns were simply staying alive, having something to eat, not being eaten by a wild animal, or being ambushed and killed by a member of a hostile tribe.
When faced with danger, there were three things they could do. They could stand and fight, run away and hope they were faster than the threat facing them, or collapse, play dead and hope that the danger would go away and leave them alone.
If they decided to fight, their bodies would release a mixture of stress hormones, cortisol, and adrenalin, causing their heart rate to increase, supplying blood to their muscles, and their breathing would increase to provide additional oxygen to the muscles they would need to fight. Additionally, they would begin to sweat as the Body took steps to cool itself down in preparation for fight or flight.
If they decided to run away, their bodies would follow the same physiological pathway providing them with the maximum amount of physical power they could muster to save their lives. If the situation was bleak, they might also urinate to lower the amount of weight the Body carried to allow them to run faster and survive.
Finally, suppose they realised they could not outrun or defeat the threat. In that case, they might collapse in a heap on the ground, probably defecating so that the person or animal threatening them would be disgusted and leave them alone and move on.
The differences between Anxiety in Humans and Animals.
Undoubtedly you have watched a wildlife documentary where a lion sneaks up on a herd of wildebeest who immediately begin to panic and run for their lives. Once the lion catches and pulls down a wildebeest, the pack stops running and continues grazing for food. This is an example of the fight and flight mechanism in action. Once they survive the lion’s attack, the wildebeests won't spend the rest of their lives ruminating about the attack, thinking, and worrying about meeting up with another lion, until they do.
We, humans, are different. When we experience a traumatic event, large or small, it leaves a memory in our brain, never to be erased or forgotten. These days it is common to refer to our brains as super-computers, and, in many ways, this is an accurate description, but with one huge difference. While it is possible to delete a program and associated files from a computer, you can never delete a traumatic memory, large or small, from your mind.
In treating anxiety, we are concerned with two areas of the brain. The first is the Limbic System, where we find the amygdala and the hippocampus; this area of the brain is responsible for the fight or flight response and operates on autopilot. The other part of the brain we are concerned with is the pre-frontal cortex, located in the front of our brain, above our eyebrows.
The pre-frontal cortex is part of the brain that makes us human. It is where we think about things, consider our options, and make decisions. It is part of the brain that makes us who we are. In anxiety therapy, we will work with this section of the brain to give you the tools to learn how to cope with your anxiety.
Stress Hormones and Anxiety.
In the previous example of the poor wildebeest, the hormone levels trigged by the immediate threat of being killed by the lion served their purpose for the animals that successfully ran away and survived. The actual act of running for their lives would have burned up the hormonal load of cortisol and adrenalin in their bodies, and in a short time, their breathing would have returned to an average level of respiration.
The trouble is with humans; the thoughts, feelings, emotions, and hormonal load accompanying an anxiety attack don't simply dissipate as they would if we were burning them up and running for our lives. Instead, this anxiety can remain with us for quite some time. To make matters worse, once something occurs that brings on an anxiety attack, a pattern is established in our brains that can easily be triggered once again. So, we can begin to develop anxiety about our anxiety.
Trauma and Anxiety
When we talk about trauma, people's thoughts usually turn to PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder); this is a severe condition found among members of the military who have experienced the horrors of war. It can also occur with victims of sexual or physical violence or a life-threatening accident.
But a whole range of anxiety-causing traumas can have a substantial psychological impact on our lives. Moreover, these traumas can often start in childhood and continue throughout our lives, resulting in various anxiety disorders that limit our abilities to lead the kind of life we want to have for ourselves.
The problem with being human is that our minds are constantly filled with negative "what if" stories. These stories can revolve around all aspects of life, including relationships, health, finance, or employment.
Some Examples of Stress.
Getting stuck in traffic when you know, you will be late for work and have a problem with your boss is stressful.
Getting home two hours late for dinner when you have gone out for a drink with friends, and your partner has cooked a special meal that has now been thrown in the trash is stressful.
Buying or selling a house is stressful.
Waiting to see if your children will be accepted into a top school is stressful.
The above situations are stressful but generally manageable by most people and will pass relatively quickly without distressing consequences.
Some Examples of Anxiety
They say that for a middle-aged man, the threat of public speaking is a greater fear than having a heart attack. For the person who is afraid of public speaking, the decision to never speak up at a meeting might eliminate the possibility of a promotion in the future.
For a person with an anxiety disorder, anxiety can keep them in their comfort zone and not allow them to courageously take the steps needed to step out of their comfort zone and open the door to various life-enhancing possibilities.
Being anxiously unprepared for an important team meeting at work, chickening out and calling in sick, perhaps eliminating your opportunity for future growth with your company.
Fearing a domestic problem at home and deciding never to go out after work again with your boss and co-workers could mean losing the interpersonal connections necessary for career advancement.
Avoiding going to a party because of social anxiety might mean you will lose the opportunity to meet someone who might very well turn out to be your suitable partner.
Turning down a job opportunity in another city to avoid the stress of selling your house and moving.
Anxiety A Good Friend and a Bad Friend
If you are crossing the street and a car driven by a drunk driver is speeding down the road in your lane, the instantaneous split section timing of the fight or flight mechanism will enable you to jump out of the way and stay alive.
If you are walking in the woods and see a snake rearing its head to strike, the same fight or flight mechanism will allow you to jump out of the way and stay alive.
The above are positive examples of the physiological benefits of our genetic anxiety functionality.
Fifty years ago, a person suffering from anxiety was usually referred to as being a nervous or neurotic person.
We ruminate about the past, but we worry about the future. Unfortunately, a great deal of our modern-day anxiety is caused by many negative things that have happened to us. As there is no delete button in the brain, these things can hang around for a lifetime, keeping us from developing ourselves and being able to have the kind of life we truly want to lead.
To get through life, we need to accept unpleasant things from the past but learn how to control them, so they don't take control of our future.
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Barry Florin, Executive Contributor Brainz Magazine
Barry Florin is a coach/therapist specialising in helping people struggling with anxiety. Anxiety is the number one mental health issue that people seek help for. Before becoming qualified as a therapist in the UK, he was a senior international executive with 20th Century Fox. Due to his extensive international experience, he is well-suited to helping people from a wide variety of cultural backgrounds.
