MHM:Anxiety

I am late on my MHM (mental Mental Health Minute) posts so here you are!! One of the things that has been a major road block in my consistent posting is anxiety. I am not an anxious person really but certain things in my everyday life have been causing me an extra dose of anxiety recently. When I get anxious, I experience psychosomatic symptoms such as being nauseous, certain joints aching, or seeing double. But what is anxiety?Why does it exist?

I ask my clients this all the time and they can usually explain it back after a minute of thought or so. Anxiety is designed to keep you safe. It is the name for your body's systematic approach to a perceived threat. Sometimes you are designed to fight back (anger responses, faster reflexes ect) and sometimes you are designed to flee (hide, run away, ghost on people). Sometimes we freeze as well when we get anxious because our system literally cannot process what is happening  (deer in headlights, crying, no words, uncertainty).   What happens over time is that once we get anxious enough and learn how it feels to be panicked, worried, scared, stressed, overwhelmed ect then our conscious mind tries to prepare for this feeling as a means of prevention. And thus anxiety disorders are born (social anxiety, generalized, anxiety, panic disorder ect).

How do we stop it??? You don't. It is a biological program that runs in your system unless chemically altered (Xanax for example) and even then, you will probably still experience some of the programming. The best thing anyone can do is learn more about their specific type of anxiety and practice various skills for lowering the perceived threats that trigger it. For example, if you get anxious around crowds because it seems like you are going to get lost and taken and never see your loved ones again- lower the perceived threat by mapping out a path way, gathering evidence that proves you are not going to be snatched up, and maybe even bring a buddy the first few times you go into crowds. It can be acceptance that the anxiety serves a "purpose" that can help you get through it. When someone is having a panic attack, let them have the panic attack. The more they fight, the worse it seems because the perceived threat seems larger. Go through the emotion and the work on calming down afterward rather than preventing the emotion from the start. You might find that anxiety starts to lessen over time. 

What about things that are real or used to be real threats? Yes, those exist. If someone is dealing with PTSD for example, this process is harder but still applicable. Gather evidence, work on coping skills for afterward, and dispute thoughts that you can never do something ever again. And give yourself time. Your body is trying to keep you safe in those moments. It is doing it's job. And sometimes it does it too well and we stay in our houses, alone with our animals because the outside world and people have caused use harm. It makes sense given that anxiety helps us to flee. And it is up to that individual who is experiencing the symptoms to change anything about it. 

Of course, anxiety shows itself in many different ways and not all ways are the most common. Someone may not even no they are anxious unless they take their pulse/blood pressure or someone tells them about how rapidly they are talking ect. Anxiety is unique to each person as it is based on chemistry.If it is something you experience, learn about how it presents, triggers, history, and what has helped in the past.