Self Help Articles
Think Before You Re-act
(Author Unknown)
People who suffer from anxiety often look for
problems and complications to add to their existing difficulties. They
perceive danger in perfectly ordinary situations.
So what happens when you perceive a threat? Can your mind tell the
difference between a real threat and a thought that scares you? The
answer of course is no.
Whether the threat is real of imagined, your mind reacts to the
messages you are giving it. When you feel you are under threat or in
danger, the body responds by bringing into play a number of physical
changes so that you are primed to either tackle or escape from the
supposedly dangerous situation as quickly as possible (The fight or
flight response).
However, if the threat is not a immediate physical one, and your body
has reacted only to a frightening thought that crossed your mind, your
system will still be awash with the adrenalin your body has
automatically produced. It is this excess of adrenalin which gives rise
to all the distressing physical symptoms you may experience. These
symptoms may also take some time to diminish while the adrenalin levels
return to normal in your body.
This perception of danger in the mind is a misinterpretation of the
situation and exacerbates the symptoms you may already be feeling. You
may think to yourself: "This is it, I can feel my heart about to burst,
I'm going to lose control, I'll never recover from this". And as you
confirm these thoughts to yourself, the feelings worsen. This is the
spiral of negative thinking which reinforces your automatic reaction.
You're telling your mind the threat's still there, so it reacts with
more adrenalin to face it... not much use in a supermarket checkout
queue, or at a meal with friends.
But the feelings you experience are not dangerous, only unpleasant.
They are normal, automatic bodily responses designed to enable humans
to cope with danger - ideal for running from a tiger, but not so
appropriate if you're sitting in an arm chair watching TV.
The good news is that these anxiety levels can only rise to a certain
level and no further before they begin to come down. It's physically
impossible for it to go beyond that upper level. If you could stick it
out in the situation that is scaring you, after a while the anxiety
levels you feel will come down. But since the physical symptoms can be
so unpleasant, that's not really practical for most of us. Instead, a
more realistic approach is to try to look anew at the situations that
scare us and try not to perceive danger in the every-day events which
other's take for granted. This will reduce the intensity and frequency
of these attacks. It is within your own control.
You may have become so conditioned by your negative thinking, or your
fear of certain situations, that just by anticipating things you bring
on the physical response without even realising what you've done.
However, you can interupt the physical symptoms at any
time if you stop and try to think more realistically. Be
positive and stop misinterpreting the situation. Don't anticipate and
don't look for more problems.
