Understanding Anxiety: How To Cope

Understanding Anxiety: How To Cope

By Christine Ferch

We all struggle with Anxiety in many different situations, people, environments we are in or around. Anxiety was once defined to me as a volume that is always there in our mind and our body. However, it is based on many different experiences, people, environments which cause our Anxiety to be turned up. We need to learn coping strategies to manage our Anxiety when triggered to help turn down the volume.

To be more formal, Anxiety is when our brain experiences actual or proposed distress and arousal by sensing uncertain danger, meaning there may or not be any actual danger present.  Anxiety causes reactions in our:

Thoughts: Thoughts of worry, dread, the anticipation of a future outcome being negative

 Physical Sensations: jitteriness, racing heart, difficulty breathing, butterflies in stomach, nausea

One positive thing about Anxiety is when it is balanced or not turned up too high, it alerts to danger so we can make appropriate and meaningful decisions.

However, when our anxiety volume is turned up, and we cannot turn it down, it begins to disrupt our functioning in our daily life and reduces our quality of life. Anxiety can affect us with school, work, or with friends and can also occur when we are in these environments or people. Everyone will struggle with Anxiety at some point in their life.

Anxiety Disorders

There are many different anxiety disorders, and their onset is often the same.

Generalized anxiety disorder is a chronic state of severe worry and tension; without any trigger, Anxiety is just there.

Panic Disorder is the sudden and repeated panic attacks, episodes of intense fear and discomfort that peak within a few minutes then go away

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: the experience of intrusive thoughts or compulsions of carrying out specific behaviours such as handwashing, checking locks, and items turned on.

Social Anxiety: Anxiety that presents itself only in social situations 

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder: can develop after experiencing or witnessing a traumatic event

Anxiety is often paired with depression as they share the same genetic likelihood of having the Disorder.

Genetics is not the only possible cause of anxiety disorders, childhood experiences also play a role in the development of Anxiety, and these experiences may be trauma, neglect, parental overprotection.

In anxiety disorders, the brain circuitry that controls the threat response goes awry and turns up the volume on the baseline of our Anxiety. The amygdala, an almond-shaped brain structure, detects the “danger”, becomes overactive. Our amygdala also plays a role in our emotional processes of anger and aggression.

Panic Attacks

Panic attacks are associated with Anxiety and are a sudden rush of fear or Anxiety that causes physical and psychological symptoms. The level of fear we experience is unrealistic and or out of proportion to what is occurring. Anyone can experience panic attacks, but frequent and intense panic attacks may be a sign of panic or Anxiety disorder and receive treatment.

Symptoms of Panic attacks include:

Physical:

1. Fast breathing
2. Severe perspiration
3. Trembling
4. Nausea
5. Dizziness
6. Numbness
7. Tingling
8. Chills
9. Sensations of heat
10. Increased heart rate

Mental:

1. Extreme fear
2. Disconnection from oneself
3. Loss of control
4. Imminent danger
5. Strong desire to flee or avoid the situation

When someone experiences a panic attack, they often report feeling they have a heart attack, the main difference is how long the distress lasts and the amount of pain felt by the individuals. With a panic attack, one generally does not feel any pain, whereas a heart attack is painful, and the pain is focused down the left arm and in the chest.

A panic attack can occur several times a day or week and often last from 5-20 minutes, peaking around 10 minutes. Most individuals report attacks last for about 3 minutes for the worst part and 5 minutes total, teaching the peak then coming back down.

Managing Anxiety

There are a few good ways to Manage your Anxiety

1. Question the story: when we experience anxiety, it is our body and brain predicting what could happen, and we often mistake this as reality. However, just because we think it does not make it accurate or a fact. Thoughts are thoughts and often need aspects of our reality to make it fact. So, challenge the thought or story your brain is creating, focus close attention to what our mind is up to, and identify the “fake news” these may be thoughts such as
   1. You are going to be late
   2. You have a disease
   3. Your loved ones are in danger
   4. This will turn out badly

When we look for facts to back these thoughts up, they can be dismissed and reduce distress in our daily lives. To also alter these thoughts, you can reframe the thought to make it more positive or for more to your present experiences.

• Face your Fears: When we experience Anxiety, we are more likely to avoid the things we are afraid of. However, when we avoid, things it leads to more fear because we do not have the information to challenge the thought. So, the story never gets changed, and the fear continuously builds. Additionally, avoidant behaviour is addictive, each time we avoid, we get a sense of relief, and we interpret this as a reward. The reward makes it more likely we will avoid this situation in the future. Eventually, our Anxiety and fear take over, and we begin to isolate away from our world and miss positive experiences.
• Be Present: When we experience Anxiety, our mind has taken us into an extreme form of fantasy that is often not helpful. Therefore, we need to be present and engage in mindfulness or grounding strategies to bring us back. Focusing on the present is a powerful tool for reducing Anxiety because it forces us to remain in the here and now and not on what may or may not happen in the future. Being present holds our story now without making false predictions. When we live in the present, we are also allowing ourselves to embrace the unknown and be okay with uncertainty.

For more information on coping or grounding strategies when faced with anxiety, check out my blog on coping strategies and mindfulness. Additionally, if you have further questions or want to address your anxiety, contact us at admin@ovcs.ca.