Anxiety Disorder – what causes it and for what reason?
Everyone faces a normal degree of anxiety in responding to the demands and choices of modern living. However, for some people, everyday worry and mild anxiety becomes more intense and develops into a anxiety disorder. This is where the sufferer experiences overwhelming worry, spiralling self-esteem and concern out of proportion to the feared threats. Panic Attacks often result where the person is gripped by fear, finds it hard to breath, sweats, shakes and is immobilised. Everyday anxiety can develop into an anxiety disorder where the sufferer is unable to function on a daily basis. This often results out of fear of more panic attacks or them happening in public places or where they will not pass.
It is possible that anxiety disorders are due to lack of strategies learnt to survive milder forms of anxiety. For example, imagine a child admonished for his behaviour. The resultant anxiety is uncomfortable but with adequate parenting, he develops sufficient strength to survive. His actions are separated from who he is and he continues to feel loved despite reasonable levels of anxiety. What if he is unable to sufficiently tolerate his distress and tries to distract himself from experiencing any anxiety? In other words, he ‘does’ something rather than ‘experiencing’ his discomfort. If successful, distraction by ‘doing something else’ then becomes a valuable strategy in managing anxiety.
As a psychologist, I see many clients saying how busy they are and how little time they have for the things they really want to do. It could be that strategies of ‘distraction’ to avoid anxiety are used which avoids us looking at anxiety that might be useful ie. anxiety that might inform us of what is or is not working our lives. Without generalising, I believe our ‘busy-ness’ results from a fundamental splitting within ourselves, in the main between ‘being’ and ‘doing’. I use the term ‘splitting’ in a more existential way as a tendency to focus more on one aspect of being than another. This results in attempts to alleviate the anxiety that inevitably results from living.
This might seem a simplistic interpretation of our societal tendency to ‘overdo it’. What if it held the key to why we find it so hard to develop fulfilled lives? Distraction and ‘doing’ things distances us from listening to ourselves. We then apply more logic and planning applied to achieve satisfaction rather than listening to our true desires. This leads to imbalance in our lives with limited ability to survive the anxiety that results when we take responsibility for our lives – especially if it involves choices contrary to the norm.
Self Reflection Exercise
How do you respond to feeling anxious? Do you look to your current situation to inform you about its source? Do you avoid anxiety by becoming busy or do you take time out to reflect on its meaning? Learn how to find out what your anxiety is really telling you – it might be more existential in nature, offering you the opportunity to become more aware of your life choices and direction.
Pingback: How To Treat Panic Attacks | A Womans Life