Anxiety is an uncontrollable feeling of worry and is the most common mental health condition in women and second most common in men. The symptoms can be psychological or physical. It’s possible that just thinking about an event that you fear could trigger a major mood-altering response that impacts your ability to function normally.
Feelings related to anxiety are tricky because in some ways they can be managed, but at the same time, sometimes you may struggle because they can extend beyond the rational mind. This can be frustrating and unpleasant, and trying to fight these intense emotions can be a challenge. Although it can be difficult to understand and handle extreme emotions, know that there are many people in the world with the same struggle who are also trying to manage this along with you
The “stress response” is the arousal of the sympathetic nervous system. This evolutionary response is designed to increase heart rate and breathing, so more blood and energy can be sent to working muscles, while other metabolic actions like digestion are slowed because they are not needed in that critical moment.
Some physiological, cognitive, emotional, and behavioral symptoms of anxiety can include:
- Rapid heart rate
- Shortness of breath
- Stomach irritation, diarrhea, vomiting
- Headache
- Dizziness
- Sweating
- Tingling, fidgeting, jittering, and tics
- Sleeping problems
- Erratic behavior
- Avoiding challenges
- Restlessness
- Social isolation and withdrawal
- Confusion, memory distortion
- Decreased cognitive efficacy
- Obsessions, perfectionism
- Oversensitivity
- Distorted perception, loss of sense of reality, feeling as if one is not in one’s own body
- Feeling “out of control”
- Anger, rage, panic
- Feeling the need to escape
- Rapid speech
A person does not have to exhibit all of the above symptoms to be considered someone who has “anxiety”, as it can be expressed differently in each individual.
Anxiety can have a huge impact on a person’s life, especially when your body is unintentionally triggered by multiple events, creating a constant state of alertness and fear. Identifying what your body is experiencing and understanding the root reasoning behind the feelings can help with mental preparedness and response to such triggers. The key to coping with anxiety is to find strategies to de-intensify the extreme sense of worry and to control thoughts as much as possible.
Fear and worry are normal human emotions, but we need to find a balance of how to cope with these emotions and use them in encouraging ways rather than enabling them to damage us. We may not be able to control the feelings that come, but with the help of cognitive and behavioral techniques we can control how we use the driving energy we’ve built from feeling anxious, and we can repurpose this tension and put it to a better use.
References
- Boyle, S. (2015). Part 3: Your Gifts. In The four gifts of anxiety. essay, Adams Media.
- Callistoga Press. (2013). Section 1: Understanding Anxiety. In The anxiety handbook: The 7-step plan to understand, manage, and overcome anxiety. essay.
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