What is Anxiety?
Many of us know the feeling of being anxious–feeling like we’re buzzing with unfocused energy, mind racing a million miles an hour, pit in your stomach and heart beating out of your chest. And for those of us who experience high levels of anxiety, all we want is to not feel anxious any more. But, what if I told you anxiety is actually trying to help you, not harm you?
What is Anxiety?
Going to the basics, our nervous system is always scanning the environment for any threat of danger. When there is any perceived threat, our alarm bells go off and our sympathetic (fight or flight) nervous system is activated.
Signs Our Sympathetic Nervous System is Activated:
Restlessness
Inability to relax
Hypervigilance
Racing heart
Sweating
Stomach ache/butterflies
This response is GOOD. Sympathetic nervous system activation is a protective response. All of the changes that result from SNS activation help prime our body for movement, whether it is to fight or run. The analogy often used to describe this response is if we were walking in the woods and a bear jumped out in front of us, our SNS would activate, allowing us to combat or get away from the bear. Ideally, once we are away from the threat, this system shuts off and we go back into our Parasympathetic Nervous System (often called our Rest and Digest system). This activation all happens without our conscious awareness–it is our system doing all of the work for us without us thinking about it. Pretty incredible, isn’t it?
The Dysregulated Nervous System
BUT, what happens when our nervous system is constantly living in a sympathetic state? This can happen for a number of reasons, including:
Constant low level life stressors
Lack of resources to regulate
Unresolved triggers
Society today is full of low level stressors. Instead of there being one bear (like in the analogy), we experience “bears” throughout our day. This can be hitting traffic, running late on a deadline, worry over finances, a disagreement with a friend, caring for children or parents, and on. So instead of our system activating and then regulating, we’re living in a state of constant activation. Our system is always scanning the environment for danger, sounding its alarm bells, and preparing for action.
This activation sounds a lot like anxiety, doesn’t it?? (That’s because it is!)
Is Anxiety Bad?
Anxiety has gotten a bad reputation and is often pinned as the enemy. Clients often come to therapy with the goal of never feeling anxious again. And that’s understandable, it is uncomfortable to feel anxious all the time, so the logical solution is to want to never feel it. But this isn’t a realistic (or healthy) goal to have. Why? Because anxiety is intended to keep us safe. It is our system’s way of responding to a perceived threat and trying to find a way to resolve it.
What is Anxiety Therapy?
So instead of having a goal of never feeling anxious again, how would it feel if:
You built of your stressors and triggers
You could acknowledge (and dare I say, celebrate) the protective response of anxiety
You were able to utilize techniques to regulate your nervous system, promoting a grounding response
In short, as a therapist, I WANT you to feel anxiety. It is a normal, healthy emotion and protective response. However, there is so much ability to build awareness around your triggers and responses, and then add tools to help regulate your nervous system so you don’t have to live in a state of constant activation.
If this sounds like something you are interested in, feel free to reach out for a free 15 minute phone consultation!
For a deeper dive, check out this video:
