What is Anxiety?
Anxiety is a natural and common human emotion characterised by feelings of uneasiness, worry, fear, or nervousness. It often arises in response to perceived threats, stressors, or uncertain situations. While anxiety is a normal part of life and can be helpful in some situations by alerting us to potential dangers and motivating us to take action, it can become problematic when it is excessive, chronic, or interferes with daily functioning. When anxiety reaches this level, it is often referred to as an anxiety disorder.
Where Does Anxiety Come From?
Anxiety is a protective response aimed at keeping you safe. It stems from the primal fight-or-flight instinct, which alerts the body to danger. Anxiety triggers the release of adrenaline, causing symptoms such as rapid heartbeats, sweating, and hyperventilation. While physical danger is often absent, anxiety arises in response to psychological threats such as uncertainty, judgment, and vulnerability.
Anxiety can be likened to a smoke alarm: Just as a smoke alarm can go off due to minor triggers like steam or burnt toast, your anxiety alarm might sound in response to stress, worries, or past traumas. While this alarm (otherwise known as The Fight or Flight Response) aims to protect you from potential threats, it can sometimes become overactive, reacting to situations that aren’t truly dangerous.
Symptoms of Anxiety
Anxiety can manifest in both physical and emotional ways. Common symptoms include:
- Increased heart rate or heart palpitations
- Over breathing (hyperventilating)
- Shaking
- Muscle tension
- Tension and tightness, or sense of compression, in the chest
- Feeling hot
- Feeling sweaty and clammy
- Heaviness or numbness in the arms and legs
- Tingling sensation in the arms and legs
- Numbness or tingling in the face
- Nausea
- Flatulence
- Need to use the toilet more often
- Headache
- Dry mouth
- Hypervigilance
- Hypersensitivity
- Light-headedness
Overcoming Anxiety
With the right help and support, anyone can overcome an anxiety disorder. Firstly, it’s important to recognise that it is a normal emotion that we all experience to varying degrees throughout our lives. However, negative or traumatic past events often can make things worse. It may be necessary to address these experiences in order to recondition our responses and move forward with a fresh perspective.
Creating a timeline can be a helpful tool in identifying the specific events and memories that require attention. When anxiety strikes, practising Grounding Techniques or listening to our Crisis2Calm message can provide effective coping mechanisms to transition from a state of crisis to calm within minutes.
Living with an anxiety disorder can be extremely challenging, however, you are not alone. Here at Trauma Research UK, our belief is, ‘It’s not what’s wrong with you, it’s what happened to you’. With this philosophy, we believe that everyone can successfully overcome their challenges with the right help and support. Read more…
