All these thoughts, and more, flood the mind, as we are consumed by the fear of fear
There is an analogy in Mindfulness which talks about the Two Arrows of pain. The first arrow is the initial physical pain, which causes understandable hurt. The second arrow is the mental suffering that results from the original blow. Something similar is at play with Panic Attacks. The initial arrow is the panic attack itself, but then the second, and probably more damaging arrow, is the fear of having another attack.
Where did this anxiety attack come from? Why did it happen? Is there something wrong with me? Can I trust myself out in public? How can I face the embarrassment and humiliation if it happened again? All these thoughts, and more, flood the mind, as we are consumed by the fear of fear.
If left untreated, our lives can quickly become boxed in and constrained, as we try to avoid the triggers of our attacks. Because, most of these triggers can be everyday occurrences. Being on public transport, or in a room where escape is difficult. Walking down a busy street. Social Situations. Alcohol. Sitting on your couch with thoughts ablaze. Driving on motorways. There are so many different triggers for different people. It can often be most upsetting when the source of our panic is unknown to us, or random.
The onset of a panic attack cannot be easily predicted. This uncertainty, therefore, can play into the tension and fear of not knowing. Is an attack imminent? How can I tell if it is or isn’t? What will happen if it is? We often avoid places or situations, ‘just in case’ panic might strike. The second arrow starts to dictate what we can and can’t do…where we can and can’t go. Sometimes even leaving the house can be a risk. We begin to avoid places or situations associated with panic attacks, or we bring someone with us for ‘protection’.
...away from the eyes, the questions, the sympathy, the overwhelming feeling of impending doom…just get me out of here
During a panic attack our mind kicks into overdrive, thinking something awful is happening or about to happen. The feeling is usually intense fear. I’m going to faint, vomit, have a heart attack, suffocate, go crazy, make a fool of myself, etc. The feelings can appear to come out of nowhere, and have us ramped up in seconds. The intensity can be very frightening, and the overwhelming desire is to escape. Whatever that looks like at that moment in time…just get me away from here. To safety, to comfort, to calm. Away from the eyes, the questions, the sympathy, the overwhelming feeling of impending doom…just get me out of here!
What is happening during this period, is our body’s threat system (fight or flight) is being engaged. All animals have evolved to react to acute physical emergency with a jolt into action. To either stand their ground and fight, or run for their lives. This has kept us alert to danger for thousands of years, and is the reason we are here today. When panic strikes, this brilliant system kicks in to protect us. However, protect us from what? What is the acute physical emergency? It is at this point our mind steps in to interpret what is going on, but unfortunately, it gets it all wrong. Here is how the threat system works, to keep us safe, and these are all symptoms of anxiety.
Misreading our symptoms of anxiety can have a twofold effect. It can cause us to think there is something wrong with us when we are perfectly safe. It can also ramp up our anxiety, which then causes more, or prolonged symptoms. This cycle can then continue, extending the panic, which often comes in waves.
Oftentimes, panic attacks are caught up in other anxieties. General anxiety (GAD), which is basically constant worry, can feed into panic. Social anxiety can make it excruciating to be in social situations, where embarrassment or judgement may occur. This can lead to feelings of panic when out with friends, just out in public, or in work.
There is no magic cure for anxiety. Nothing we can do will suddenly turn it off, or make us less anxious. Our brains are hardwired to have anxious thoughts, and we have evolved to be anxious for our own protection. Without anxiety, we would not be around today. So, the idea is to manage anxiety, and learn to live with it, not try to eliminate it.
For those who have experienced panic, learning to live with it does not sound like a great option. The starting point is to get to know and understand how our bodies work during times of anxiety. With this, often comes an easing of the misreading of our body’s reactions to anxiety. As frightening as they seem, is it very important to understand that we are in absolutely no physical danger during a panic attack. Sometimes just thinking “this is my body's way of protecting me” can help in the moment.
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) has been proven to be very effective for overcoming panic. This can be done with the help of a therapist, or on your own, with many available online resources. I will be dedicating more blogs to the CBT model for panic in the coming weeks.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and Mindfulness are also two very good ways to learn to accept our anxiety as part of us. If we can, we need to learn to live with our anxiety, and not be constantly working against it. Our anxiety will only get worse if we try to resist of fight it. It will not go away if we try to avoid it with alcohol, or bury ourselves in work or achievements. It will always be there, waiting for us, when we slow down again. We bring it with us wherever we go. It will always be a part of us, so maybe it is time to try something different.
Worry is the major feature of Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD), and intolerance of uncertainty is the force behind worry. Worrying stems from a craving for control. It is the over-thinking that goes into the desire to avoid negative outcomes. We are so afraid of something going wrong that we try to cover every possible outcome in our head. Unfortunately, with every situation, there are a lot of possible outcomes.
What if...what if...what if
Very little in life is certain. Much of what we have to deal with in our day to day working lives is ambiguous. We cannot predict how a project will go, or what pressure will be involved. We cannot foresee all the obstacles we may encounter, or how our managers will react. For worriers, this is a hard space to navigate. “What does my manager think of me?” ... “what if I make a mistake?” ... “what if the project is a disaster” ... “what if my part goes horribly wrong?” ... “what if I get in trouble?” ... “what if I’m called to a meeting and I don’t have the answers” … “what if I lose my job?” ... “What if…what if…what if”.
Much of our lives are spent trying to reduce and manage uncertainty, but to what end? How do we prepare for the unknown? And, even if we accept we cannot, how do we stop trying?
Well, if you are prone to worrying, stopping is a difficult task. We can, however, begin to tackle the problem, and becoming more tolerant of uncertainty is a great place to start. Here are 7 ways you can start to build that tolerance...
The first thing you need to do is simply know the difficulty uncertainty causes you. Admit to yourself, “I cannot tolerate uncertainty!”. Once that knowledge is in your awareness, you can start to do something about it.
Listen for the ‘what if’ questions, or check if your concentration has dipped. Learn to pay attention to your body. What does it feel like when I worry? Do I have butterflies in my stomach? Am I clenching my teeth or hands? Am I staring into the distance? Is my foot tapping? What is my body telling me? You are trying to listen to your body’s cues, so you know the worrying has begun.
Name your thoughts. When you catch yourself trapped in uncertainty, with your thoughts going down rabbit holes, name it. “Future worry”, “uncertainty thoughts”, “control thoughts”, “the What Ifs”, whatever you like.
With compassion and curiosity, acknowledge that you do it. “This is me, this is what I do at the moment. I don’t particularly like it, but I’ve obviously developed it to protect myself somehow. Maybe it isn’t helping me much anymore”. To best tackle this situation, it is best to park any self-criticism or judgement.
The present moment is an antidote to worry
Anxiety and worry is always future based, it cannot exist in the present moment. When we are worrying, we are lost in a fantasy world. Our eyes are open, but we are not present. We are inward focused, missing everything that is going on around us.
Be always listening to your body. Once you feel the worrying thoughts come on, that is your cue to return to the world around you. To maintain the worry requires our full attention. Engage your senses. Look up. Stretch and look around, left and right. Turn and look behind you. What can you see? Are there any smells? Stand up, if you need to. Really concentrate and try and name five different things you can hear (cars, talking, the clock, the air conditioning, my breathing, etc.).
Slowly rub your hands together. Observe the lines on your hands. Pick up a pen and run your fingers over its shape. Take four deep breaths in and out. Feel the cool air entering through your nostrils, and the warm air leaving past your lips. Embrace the here and now, because when you are present you can deal with the actual issues, and not the ones that are in your head.
Don’t feed the troll
In Acceptance and Commitment therapy (ACT), there is a very useful concept called ‘thought defusion’. In short, we are fused with our worrisome thoughts. We take them literally. We see them as important, as they come from ourselves. We engage with them and they wrap us up. But, in truth, they are only words. Just utterances that our mind is firing about, willy-nilly. They are not wise, or threatening. They seem to demand our attention, but actually, they deserve no more attention than that random 1980s song our mind fired up earlier in the day.
Try to see your worrisome thoughts like you would an internet troll. The upsetting comment is there, you can’t change that. What you do have control over is your reaction. If you engage, start an argument, fight back, the troll gets exactly what they want, and the battle begins.
What if you just acknowledge that the comment exists, and just let it be. Allow it to run its course in your mind, without struggle, or trying to avoid it. You won’t feel great in that moment, but the thoughts will not multiply, and the sensation will be over sooner.
So, try this. From step one, above, you have become aware of your intolerance of uncertainty. You have a name for these thoughts. If you begin to feel them coming on, call them out… “future worries” … accept that they are here, but refuse to engage. From step two, you are looking up and getting in touch with the present moment. Now, acknowledge the worrisome thought, but try and step back. Get some distance between you and the thought. Don’t get caught up. Don’t engage.
Don’t feed the troll.
We can often be fooled into thinking our worrying serves an important purpose. It helps us prepare, keeps us motivated, and on time. It is useful for problem solving, and protects against surprise. It can protect us against negative outcomes, as if we think about all possible outcomes, we may negate the bad ones. It keeps us safe. I can’t let my guard down.
Unfortunately, as much as it may feel like a positive, worrying does none of the above. Studies have shown that people who worry about the future do no better when they actually get there. In fact, we tend to do worse, as we are still inside our own heads, worrying. We are not fully present to deal with the issue. This would suggest that worrying has no benefit.
A further study at Cornell University found that 85% of what people worry about never comes to pass. Of the 15% that did go as predicted, 79% of the participants found that they either handled the problem better than they would have thought, or they learned a valuable lesson from the outcome. Worry, therefore, does seem like valuable time wasted.
Worrying gets in the way of problem solving. It requires our full attention. Our minds cannot do two things at once, and the worrying seems much more important, because of the danger it is predicting. The idea of this exercise is that if a worry pops into your head, write it down. This is so you don’t forget any of the things you have to worry about. The worrying piece is then postponed until a designated time in the day that has been set aside specifically to catch up on all the worrying you have on the list. Make it 30-45 minutes, but no more.
This may sound ridiculous, but give it a go, it can be very powerful. It leaves you free to focus on the real issues at hand, safe in the knowledge that none of your worries will be neglected.
Another thought defusion technique is to repeat a worry that comes into your head one hundred times. Contrary to engaging with the thought, this practice serves to render the thought meaningless.
So, you are in work, and you have a worrisome thought that you will make a mistake on the task you are doing, and get in trouble. Off you go then…“I’m going to mess up and get in trouble”…100 times! By the time you have said the worrisome thought for the hundredth time, you will be bored with it.
Or how about (in your head, of course) singing the thought to the tune of ‘Happy Birthday’.
“I’m going to mess up and get in trouble”
“I’m going to mess up and get in trouble”
“I’m going to mess up and get in troooooooooooouble”
“I’m going to mess up and get in trouble”
This undermining of the thought can take its power away, and leave it exposed for what it is. Just a thought.
if given the choice, we will often pick a negative outcome over an uncertain one
Ultimately, how do you get over your fear of uncertainty? Well, by encountering it…continually. If we expose ourselves, voluntarily, to things we are avoiding and are afraid, we get stronger. Of this there is no doubt.
Often, however, if given the choice, we will often pick a negative outcome over an uncertain one. Why? Because at least with the negative outcome we know the result. We can put it to bed. It’s why so many people will leave a job they are in, because the uncertainty of not knowing how they are doing has gotten too much. They would rather have no job, then be in a job they could possibly fail at. Again, the problem here is the ’possibly’ bit, not the failing. At least failure would bring certainty.
To reduce the role of uncertainty in worry, we can either reduce uncertainty itself, or increase our tolerance for uncertainty. As reducing the uncertainty is not really possible, we are left with becoming more tolerant. We must learn to become more accepting that uncertainty is a natural part of life. We cannot avoid it. Unfortunately, the only way is through it.
start proving to yourself that you can handle obstacles in your life
This process involves gradually exposing yourself to low level uncertainty. Uncertainty that causes some discomfort, and triggers a small amount of worry, but is not too much to handle. For example, would you worry excessively about going into town on Saturday afternoon? If not too much, but you would still plan the day down to the last detail; times of busses, weather checks, where you are going to go for lunch, etc., maybe start with something like this. The idea is to drop trying to predict every possible outcome. Just go into town, and see what happens. Trust that whatever crops up, you will be able to handle it.
That’s the whole point. To prove to ourselves that we can handle obstacles in our lives. As we start experiencing more, and avoiding less, we begin to gain confidence. The idea, then, is to progress through higher level fears, as we have mastered the lower level ones. Always living on the very edge of our comfort zones, as constantly pushing our boundaries is where real growth happens.
So, choose something relatively simple to begin with, and give it a go. Remember to take it slowly. If you feel you need support, find a Counsellor or Psychotherapist who can guide you through this. It’s always good to bounce your ideas and findings off someone impartial.
What’s in our anxiety toolbox? Is it sufficient? Do we have the tools to cope with the problems that we regularly face? Sometimes we can feel so overwhelmed, that we don’t know where to start. Things can get on top of us to such a degree that our usual coping mechanisms are insufficient. Anxiety can wash over us, and before we know it, we are unable to get out from under it. Are we even aware it is anxiety that we are feeling? Sometime we are feeling low, and sluggish, but the underlying problem may be anxiety. Anxiety and depression often go hand in hand, with one feeding the other.
It is important that we know what is going on for us, how to react, and what tools are at our disposal. Some of the tools below are not quick fix, and will take time to implement, but it is about building resilience and fortitude going forward.
Sometimes we don’t know what we think until we write it down
Every anxiety toolbox needs paper and a pen. Writing can be a very powerful tool. When we are stuck in our own heads, we can go around in circles for hours without any resolution. It’s often only after we write down our thoughts that we realise what we are going through.
So, pull out your pen and paper, and start to write. It slows down our thinking. It can give us perspective. We can read over what we have written, and look at it objectively. What would I say to another person who had written this? What advice would I have? Would I understand what they were going through? Would I be empathic to their situation?
Free-associate…don’t censor yourself, or worry about punctuation, grammar, or spelling. Nobody but you will be reading this. Try and write about what you are feeling. Yours wants and fears. What is going on for you at the moment. It’s ok not to know what to write, just write about anything that comes to mind. If it bores you, write about being bored, and see where you end up. If you think it’s a stupid exercise, write about what it feels like to be wasting your own time…just write, and follow where the pen takes you.
Our bodies know exactly what is going on for us, we just need to listen. I’ve written about Anxiety symptoms and the threat system (fight or flight) before, and if we are dealing with a lot of anxiety in our lives, it is essential to be know how our body reacts under stress. If we are aware, it can act as a great trigger warning that we need to address our anxiety. If we are not aware, our body’s natural reaction to anxiety can be misread, and act as fuel to our anxious thoughts.
Some symptoms (of many) can be a pounding heart, shortness of breath, dizziness, nausea or tense muscles. Everybody reacts similarly, but different. Get familiar with your body under stress, and try to get comfortable in the knowledge that these symptoms are there to protect, not harm you.
getting in our own way with criticism and judgement
A simple concept, but difficult enough to implement. Self-compassion needs to be the cornerstone of everything we do when we are trying to deal with anxiety, and it is an essential tool for our anxiety toolbox. Often our own harsh beliefs can play either into the maintaining of anxiety, or preventing us from reaching out and getting help. “I should be better than this…why can’t I stop these thoughts and feelings…I’m so weak…people will think I’m crazy…people will judge me…etc, etc”.
If we could cultivate for ourselves the type of compassion that we would have for loved ones going through similar problems, then that would be a great start. What would we say to others? Would we be empathic? Would we listen and offer support, or would we shrug and tell them to pull themselves together…stop being so weak?
Self-compassion needs to be in our anxiety toolbox if we are to navigate through our thoughts and emotions without getting in our own way, with criticism and judgement.
If something feels uncomfortable, it doesn’t mean it’s dangerous. If something is easy, it doesn’t mean it’s healthy
We all have an idea of how things should be going, how things should be working out. We may not have explicitly thought it out, but it is there. If I do this thing, then that thing should happen. If I follow this path, then these results will follow. We all have our own blueprints in our anxiety toolbox, but it is influenced by our parents, society, advertising, peers, etc. Sometimes our blueprint is not even our own. We have looked at what other people are doing and decided that is what we should be doing, without figuring out what our needs and wants are.
Life can become difficult when reality doesn’t match our expectations, and this is where anxiety could take hold. We are met with resistance, and our instinct is to run. What’s important at times like these is to figure out what we are running from…why are we resisting it? What can we learn about ourselves here.
If you are in a job you hate, check your blueprint, and why this doesn’t match with reality. Know why you hate the job so much. Now, is there anything to learn here? Can you accept where you are, for the time being, and lean into it? There is real growth to be made when we are aware of our own resistance and we push through anyway. It is outside our comfort zone where we usually make real progress.
Sometimes we are happy in a role we are very familiar with, and if that changes, anxiety can flourish. However, if something feels uncomfortable, it doesn’t mean it’s dangerous. The opposite is also equally as true, in that if something is easy, it doesn’t mean it’s healthy, or good for us. If life matches our blueprint, there is no anxiety, but also no growth.
We need to be aware of our blueprint for life, and that if we feel resistance, it may well be that our expectations do not match with what our current situation is. Always have it at hand, but never be afraid to change your blueprint, if it comes up against reality and is found to be inadequate.
Living like a teenager at home does not help us when we go out to work in the world of adults
We need, at the earliest possible moment, to foster independence for ourselves. The housing market is crazy these days, and the rental market is awful, but if there is any way you can live away from your parents, then make it happen. If there are sacrifices that you can live with, in order for you to be able to move out, make them. Then, when you visit your family home, do not revert to your original role.
If you do have to live with your parents, however, it is of vital importance that you start living like an adult in the house, and start to become more self-reliant. Contribute! Are you cooking your own meals? Are you doing your own washing? Are you interacting like another adult in the house, or are you playing the role of the child still? Living like a teenager at home does not help you when you are going out to work in the world of adults. It can leave you feeling exposed and vulnerable, without sufficient tools to cope. If you are looking to your parents to guide you through life, then this can leave you lacking in the skills and strength to progress in the workplace.
Cultivate a different relationship with your parents, wherever possible. It might not be easy, but try move towards an adult-to-adult relationship, rather than a parent-to-child one. You may feel that they are treating you like a child, and maybe they cannot let that image of you go, but are you acting like an adult in the family home? You have no control over their actions, or responses to you. You do, however, have control over how you conduct yourself, and how you choose to be in the world.
This is crucially important, as if we do not see ourselves as adults, or if we rely on something outside of ourselves for strength, anxiety can thrive. How can we face our own problems in work when we do not face them outside? If we have not learned that we can cope with our own problems, then we need to learn that as soon as possible.
With independence and self-reliance, comes self-belief and the knowledge that we can face down whatever life throws at us. It is something we all need to have in our anxiety toolbox in order to tackle problems when they inevitably arise.
small fears were not confronted, and now there’s a monster at the door
With most anxieties, this is true. With agoraphobia, which is basically perceiving the environment to be unsafe, we lock ourselves away, ignoring the world we fear. So much so, that after time, opening the front door becomes impossible. The house becomes a prison, because small fears were not confronted, and now there’s a monster at the door.
This is true of any fear we continually ignore. The more we turn away, the bigger the issue becomes, and the smaller we become in its shadow. It doesn’t go away. It can’t go away. We are shackled to it. This thing that we are so afraid of, now follows us everywhere, and we dare not turn around. So…bigger it grows.
It is usually just a gradual, unseen process, like ivy slowly choking a tree
With Social Anxiety this is especially true. Most people who come and see me have a very similar story. They were quiet children, often describing themselves as shy. It is usually in the teenage years, when we begin to move away from the constant protection of our parents, that Social Anxiety can take hold. There is very rarely one incident that people can pinpoint, one defining moment, where it started. It is usually just a gradual, unseen process, like ivy slowly choking a tree.
Every time we avoid a social situation, we confirm to ourselves that we cannot cope.
Every time we make an excuse and leave a group conversation, groups become a bigger fear.
Every time we pull out our phones when we walk through the corridor at work to avoid interaction, we miss the opportunity to see that interaction need not be scary.
With Social Anxiety, all our decisions in social situations serve to either confront our fears, or fan the flames of our anxiety. If we practice avoidance, then that will likely become the default action, especially when our thoughts support it.
When we are in a group conversation, the group is already a monster. It is judging us. We avoid talking, which our mind fully endorses, “don’t say anything, everyone will think you’re a fool”. After 10 minutes not talking, it becomes harder and harder to speak, “talking now will only draw attention to the fact I’ve been sitting here like an idiot for the last 10 minutes”. The longer we go on in silence, the more the fear grows.
These decisions can wreak havoc in our working lives. Say we call in sick because we want to avoid a meeting where we will have to answer questions (the meeting is a monster). With the decision comes relief, as we have avoided our fear. However, as we come closer to the next day, the fear comes back, but bigger, “what will my boss think of me, I’m going to have to answer the questions anyway”. We may even take another day off sick, but now the thoughts of going back in are excruciating, “my colleagues will know I’m weak. I’m going to look like a fool. How can I face everyone now?”. If we addressed the monster when it was smaller, it may have been beatable…now it’s a six-headed beast.
Tackling any anxiety is about confronting our fears. It isn’t just deciding “right, I have to do everything I’m afraid of now”. It involves deciding what level of fear we can tolerate, and voluntarily, and continually tackling the smaller bits. As we begin to ignore our fears less, and confront reality more, we slowly gain control.
So, can you think of anything you currently do that enables you to sidestep your fears? How about making some small changes that opens you up to some of them, but isn’t too dramatic…for starters.
For example, don’t take your phone out when you are walking through your workplace. Or take your headphones off once you enter the building. Or, even, look up when you are walking around. You don’t even have to interact with people at first, but just get rid of the little things that you think are keeping you ‘safe’. Nothing wrong with starting small, and always looking for ways to challenge yourself.
Overcoming anxiety, where we never feel anxiety again, should not be the goal, as it is impossible. The goal should be to confront our fears, head on, as best we can, whenever they appear. That cannot come about without building to it, step by step.
No matter who you are, you have experienced anxiety at some stage in your life. As humans, our brains are hardwired to be alert for threat. We are prone to negative, or worrisome thoughts. It can make us feel nervous, restless or tense, and we can experience feelings of impending danger, panic or doom. These, among other things, are the symptoms of anxiety. Anxiety is both a blessing and a curse, as without it, we would not survive. With uncontrolled, or misguided anxiety, however, we can be left stuck, isolated, fearful, and helpless.
Anxiety is the body’s response to situations that we interpret as threatening
There are many different strands of anxiety, each with their own characteristics and triggers. One thing they all have in common is how they make our bodies react. Anxiety is the body’s response to situations that we interpret as threatening. Our very distant ancestors would have used this to escape from, or fight off wild animals, or attacks from other tribes. These days, however, we very rarely need anxiety to help us in life-threatening situations. The vast majority of anxiety we feel on a day to day basis is created in our own minds. It’s always future based, and we are usually imagining bad things happening to us, or around us.
So, whether it is the Sunday night before a busy week in work, an upcoming social situation where we might perceive potential judgement, or a busy bus, where we could feel panic coming on, these very different situations will activate the same response system in our body that our ancestors used to keep them safe from danger.
The Threat System, or as it is more commonly known, Fight or Flight, is our body's mechanism to prepare us to stand our ground and get ready to fight, or, if we don’t fancy our chances, get the hell out of there.
Either way, we need to be ready to move. All animals have evolved to react this way to brief and acute distress. This can be seen in action in any back garden on any bird feeder. Watch any small bird land to eat. It doesn’t kick back, pop peanuts into its mouth and admire its surroundings. It is hyper-alert, constantly scanning the air and ground. The first sign of any movement and it will fly off in an instant. This is anxiety keeping that bird alive. Whereas we have the same system to protect us in physical emergencies, we activate it for days, weeks, even months at a time. worrying about what people think about us, relationships, promotions, and any other worries of the day.
I have read two different books that have given very good analogies to best understand the damage this can cause. Paul Tough, in How Children Succeed (2012), describes what he calls the firehouse effect. He sees our threat system like our bodies having a firehouse full of powerful fire engines. Each engine ready to go, at a moment’s notice, in the event of an acute physical emergency. We have these fire engines running all the time, however. The harm caused from kicking in doors, breaking windows, and hosing down walls will have a more damaging effect than the original threat we are worried about.
Robert Sapolsky (Why Zebras don’t get Ulcers, 1994) sees this same problem in the emergence of many stress related diseases. Like Tough, Sapolsky believes that having this stress response running all the time is a problem. It is not that the stress response will run out, but rather he sees it like two elephants on a seesaw. The system is operating, but under enormous strain, which has to have damaging effects in the long run.
a lot of our stress can be caused by misreading what is going on in our bodies during this fight or flight response
So, how does this all play out in our bodies? Well, this is so important for those who suffer from anxiety. A lot of our stress can be caused by misreading the symptoms of anxiety. What is going on in our bodies during this fight or flight response is key to what we feel when anxious. So, here are some of the sensations that we can feel when the threat system is activated:
As you can see, any of the above could be misinterpreted as problems with our health. This in turn could lead to further anxiety. It is important to get to know how your body reacts during an anxious episode. We can then remind ourselves during difficult times that this is just our bodies looking to protect us.
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