Anxiety

Anxiety

Most people get anxious. Often that’s very useful. Back in cave-dwelling days, being anxious when you went outside could make the difference between being eaten by something with fur and teeth, or having a nice warm rug and dinner for four. The anxious ones survived and ate well, the others were in fact dinner for some wild animal.

So our brains are designed to pay attention to threats, and trigger anxious feelings so we are ready to save ourselves. Trouble is, in a modern society, we are overloaded with information about all the bad things that happen all around the world. This can cause our “threat” response to be triggered far too much, and this can feel overwhelming (social media has a role here!).

The other thing that happens, is that when we get anxious our brain releases chemicals to get us into a state of nervous anticipation, so we can run, fight, or otherwise save ourselves. This is useful when being chased by a sabre-toothed tiger. Less so when we are anxious because there are too many people in our classroom and the noise is making it hard to do our work. If everybody ran screaming from the classroom whenever they got anxious, even some of the teachers would be gone!

In fact one of the biggest problems when we notice that we are getting anxious, is that we tend to have a thinking process like:

“Oh no, I’m getting anxious! This is terrible!! I will feel overwhelmed and be unable to cope!!!”

Of course, each time we interpret an anxious feeling as itself being a threat, the more we get anxious about being anxious, and the more the brain releases fight and flight chemicals. It’s just trying to be helpful!

In truth, the best way to deal with feeling super-anxious, is not to “get rid of the anxiety”. Anxiety reminds you to look before you cross the street, and all sorts of useful things that keep you alive. The trick is to get really good at being anxious. Kind of “Oh yeah, hi anxiety, I see you. But right now I’m just doing this, so you just sit there and I’ll get back to you…”

Probably the two most common presenting issues in mental health are anxiety and depressed mood. There is so much research it would be hard to read all of it. But there are some really good approaches to working with anxiety and making it manageable, instead of overwhelming. Below are a few self-help info sheets and a link to the Centre for Clinical Interventions, who have some good modules that you can work through on your own or with a clinician.

If anxiety keeps going and does not stop for a very long time, it can lead to people starting to feel overwhelmed, and they can develop low mood. If this is a risk for you, your best plan might be to find a counsellor, psychotherapist, or psychologist who can assist. One of the most well-known treatment approaches for anxiety is Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT), which has some research support. There are also a number of other approaches, and a therapist may first explore what your anxiety is about, before discussing a suitable therapy with you.

Here are some links:

https://www.cci.health.wa.gov.au/Resources/Overview

https://www.getselfhelp.co.uk/anxiety-self-help/

All views expressed in this information sheet are those of the author, however based on broad research and clinical experience. Any feedback may be directed to the author: Steve Williams, Consultant Clinical Psychologist, Director: C&A Hub.