Everything You Need to Know About a Worried Mind
By Max Maisel, PhD Clinical Psychologist and Founder of Beachfront Practicing in Redondo Beach and Los Angeles, California
What is anxiety, anyway? The term "anxiety" refers to a range of symptoms that affect your thoughts (e.g., constant worry, "what ifs," thinking about worst-case scenarios), feelings (e.g., muscle tension, panic, a sense of dread, racing heart, blushing, sweaty palms, choking sensations, etc.), and behaviors (e.g., avoiding anxiety-inducing situations, feeling on edge and irritable, loss of appetite).
Anxiety presents differently for each person, but there are common themes, including:
Generalized anxiety: Excessive worry about various aspects of life, often leading to fatigue, trouble sleeping, irritability, and muscle tension.
Social anxiety: Fear of negative judgment or evaluation by others, leading to avoidance of social interactions, which can result in loneliness and depression.
Panic: Intense episodes of fear accompanied by physical symptoms such as hyperventilation, rapid heartbeat, and dizziness, often accompanied by concerns about dying, fainting, or losing control.
Agoraphobia: Fear of open spaces or leaving one's home.
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD): Intrusive unwanted thoughts, images, or urges, paired with rituals or compulsions aimed at reducing anxiety (e.g., excessive handwashing due to contamination fears).
Specific Phobia: Intense and specific fear of objects or situations (e.g., spiders, heights, vomit, enclosed spaces).
It's important to note that everyone experiences anxiety to some extent as a normal and healthy part of being human. However, when anxiety symptoms start to interfere with daily life or cause significant discomfort, it may indicate an anxiety disorder.
So, what causes anxiety? Surprisingly, the answer is quite simple. Imagine holding out your left hand and envisioning a small almond-shaped structure that could fit in the middle of your palm. That little structure is called the amygdala, located deep within the limbic system of your brain, which can be considered the brain's emotion center. The amygdala is responsible for monitoring potential threats to your physical safety. When a threat is perceived, it triggers the release of hormones and chemicals like adrenaline and cortisol, initiating the "fight, flight, or freeze" response. These chemicals flood your body, leading to a range of physiological and cognitive symptoms designed to keep you safe. Consider any situation where you might fear for your life, such as being mugged or attacked by a wild animal. What would happen inside your body during such an encounter? Symptoms like a racing heart, rapid breathing or hyperventilation, stomach cramps, restlessness, irritability, muscle tension, difficulty concentrating, racing thoughts, and a sense of doom are all part of the body's response to a perceived life-threatening situation.
Each symptom experienced during the flight/fight/freeze response serves a purpose, even though they can make us feel uncomfortable. Here are some examples:
Function of Flight, Fight, Freeze Response
Increased heart rate: More blood is pumped through your body, allowing you to respond quickly in a fight or flight situation.
Fast breathing: Hyperventilation increases heart rate by expelling excess carbon dioxide.
Nausea/stomach cramps: Blood flow shifts away from the digestive system to the muscles in your arms and legs, preparing you for action.
Feeling a lump in the throat, dry mouth, difficulty swallowing: These sensations occur because blood flow away from the digestion system affects saliva production and the esophagus.
Tingling/coldness in hands and feet: Blood is diverted to the limbs, preparing them for battle or escape. This response also reduces the risk of bleeding out if injured.
Restlessness/jitteriness: Adrenaline increases alertness and hyperfocus on the threat.
Sweating/clamminess: Sweating aids in slipping away from a predator's grasp and helps cool the body during prolonged periods of exertion.
Muscle tension: Tense muscles are primed for action and allow for quick reactions. They may also provide protection against attacks.
Racing thoughts: Your mind is actively trying to find solutions in a life-or-death situation.
If you were to encounter a grizzly bear, you would experience similar sensations to those during a panic attack, as your body responds to a perceived threat in both situations (though the grizzly bear encounter would indeed pose a genuine threat to your life).
Now, reflect on the times you've experienced anxiety and the physical sensations accompanying it. Do you notice any similarities with the symptoms mentioned earlier? There's a good reason for this. The human brain is exceptionally skilled at survival and often misinterprets common situations as life-threatening, even when no real danger exists. Your brain's misfiring triggers the same physiological responses before public speaking as it would in a face-to-face encounter with a hungry grizzly bear. Fascinating, isn't it?
So, if anxiety is meant to help us survive, when does it become problematic? Simply put, if anxiety prevents you from living the life you desire or causes unnecessary suffering, then you may have an anxiety disorder, which is a medical diagnosis. In other words, you have an overactive amygdala constantly sounding false alarms, perceiving danger where there is none.
If you're thinking, "Okay, I have an anxiety disorder. What can I do about it?" it's crucial to understand that how you respond to anxiety will determine whether it persists. If you've been struggling with anxiety for a while, it's likely that your responses to anxiety have been maintaining or exacerbating your symptoms. Various therapeutic approaches, such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, and Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, have proven effective in treating anxiety. These therapies can teach you more adaptive ways to respond to anxiety, including recognizing the role of avoidance and challenging maladaptive thought patterns.
To learn more about ways that you can calm your flight/fight response and attain peace of mind, please reach to Beachfront Anxiety Specialists by calling (213) 218-3080 or by sending a message through the CONTACT PAGE. Clinicians treat anxiety online or in-person in our offices in Redondo Beach and Los Angeles, CA.