The word ‘anxiety’ will mean different things to different people. It could easily be argued that it is actually a blanket term that covers a multitude of symptoms.

In this article, we will look at these symptoms, their causes, and what can be done to alleviate them. It is written from my own experience of anxiety, and what that means to me.

Symptoms of anxiety

Anxiety is thought of as a mental health problem; as something that can be experienced by people but is not really ‘normal’. In this context, ‘normal’ could be described as something that we were born with rather than a learned behaviour.

Anxiety can range from feeling nervous, to literally being unable to leave the house for fear of the unknown. It can be completely debilitating to the person concerned, and can have a grievous impact on those around the anxious person, too. It is often misunderstood; it’s easy to write it off as, perhaps, being risk averse or being ‘a worrier’.

Anxiety will be felt in a number of ways, and probably will feel different to different people. However, here is a generic list of the types of symptoms that we could class as being linked to anxiety:

• Undue nervousness, where there seems to be no obvious cause
• Reacting in a disproportionate way to a stimulus
• Thoughts becoming confused, and an inability to express oneself clearly
• Having a noisy ‘internal monologue’ – the feeling of being overwhelmed

There are also a number of physiological symptoms too – where the effect of anxiety can be felt in our bodies. Some of these are as follows:

• Shortness or quickness of breath
• Tenseness, especially around the shoulders and neck
• Feeling overly warm, having sweating palms

There are three behaviours closely associated with anxiety. These are behaviours that would be felt by someone with anxiety if, say, something has gone unexpectedly wrong in their lives.

I’ve have listed here as the 3 P’s to make them more memorable:

1. Personal. The thing that happened was because of me, or is about me. If I hadn’t been involved, it wouldn’t have occurred.
2. Proportion. The thing that happened feels way more drastic than it should do. A person with anxiety will often ‘catastrophise’ about an incident that is actually fairly innocuous.
3. Perpetual. The feeling will always be there. I’ll never be convinced that there isn’t actually anything wrong, and this will always be the case.

Let’s think of an example. You are walking down a street, when a fire engine passes by, with its horns blaring. An anxious person might think the following:

• Personal: The emergency is something to do with me, or those I love.
• Proportion: Did I leave the iron on, and is my housing now burning down?
• Perpetual: I once left the iron on, and the house could have burned down that time, therefore this could be happening again.

Anxiety: What’s happening in our brain and body?

Human beings are born to respond in one of three ways to something that we identify as being a threat. We either fight, freeze or run away (flight). These responses can often happen regardless of whether the threat is actual or perceived.

When we have reached a position of flight, fight or freeze, the part of our brain that processes logic has shut down; it’s been taken over by the part of our brain that deals solely with survival. This part is called the Amygdala (“A-mig-dalla”), and this process is known as the Amygdala hijack.

A number of things are happening in very quick succession during an amygdala hijack. Your body is tense, in preparation for fight or flight. Your breathing increases, again in preparation. Your pupils will grow and your senses will be put on high alert. It is likely that your body is filling with adrenaline…again in order to prepare for an imminent threat.

Most importantly, it has just become VERY difficult to see reason and apply logic.

Consider getting into a heated argument with your partner. All logic has probably been removed as ‘the red mist’ descends. Things get out of hand quickly, and this is often the time when things are said that shouldn’t be! Those who win arguments are usually those who are able to control their emotional response in favour of a logical response.

It follows then, that the less we see things as threatening, the less anxious we are likely to be!

Causes of anxiety

No-one is born anxious. There are in fact only two fears that we are born with: a fear of loud noises and a fear of heights; everything else is learned. As such, anxiety is a learned behaviour.

The causes of anxiety often go back to what we experienced as a child, or a trauma that we have experienced at any point of life.

If we were brought up in a household that perceived threats everywhere, then it follows that we perpetuate these feelings ourselves.

If this household perhaps was one of anger, impatience and danger, then of course we may have learned to expect these threats as we grow up.

Regarding trauma, it is commonplace to respond to a traumatic event as being something that could recur. Our response to this will be to be on a heightened state of alert, even when there is no real threat apparent.

What to do about anxiety

If we accept that anxiety is something that we have learned, it is also something that we can unlearn! After all, any habit can be changed. In this sense, we can think of our brains as being re-programmable. A brain is a bit like a circuit board, where an alternative route can be found between two points…one that doesn’t involve an anxious response.

The start of any improvement is to identify the trigger for the anxiety. In identifying the trigger, we will not necessarily shift directly into a state of emotional confusion; we might still be able to think about the trigger in a more logical way, without having suffered the Amygdala hijack. Let’s ask ourselves: is the threat real or perceived? What is the likelihood of it being a threat…and if so, what are the chances of it affecting me?

It’s easier than it sounds, however. Learned habits or behaviours can take months or even years to address. So, if you do find yourself suffering from the symptoms of anxiety, what should you do?

The answer is to learn to control the physiological response…by applying a controlled physiological response of our own: Breathing. By taking deeper, slower breaths (and taking more time to exhale than inhale) we can start to exert some control over our response. We can slow our heart-rate, and reduce the adrenaline in our bodies.

Also – think about your body…it will be feeling tense. Take a moment to identify where it is tense, and relax. Drop your shoulders. Stretch your back out.

If this sounds like it isn’t going to work, then trust me, it could work…It did for me.

I was sceptical too. How can something as simple as changing the way I breathe stop me from this awful, crushing feeling of despair? It almost felt patronising to me, until I tried it and practised it.

Of course, there is no single cure. And there will be those of you for whom understanding is irrelevant.

But that’s ok too. That’s why Wingmen are here. So…give us a call.

We’d love to listen.