What is Anxiety? Part 1
Anxiety is often described as intense feelings of worry, distress, fear or apprehension that are
not easy to control. Anxiety causes real physical symptoms in the individual
and affect how they behave. The spectrum of anxiety can vary from mild worry
that can bring feelings of being unsettled to severe terror which can be very
debilitating and impact upon the individual’s daily life. Anxiety is often a
reaction to a threat that can become out of proportion to what would normally
be expected.
Symptoms people often experience include:
A pounding heart, tight chest or chest pain
Feeling short of breath
Dizzy, headache, sweaty, tingly, numb
Dry mouth, stomach pain
Nausea, feeling faint
Urge to go to the bathroom
Shakiness
Other symptoms people may experience include:
Rapid/racing thoughts
Mind blankness (being unable to think)
Urge to run or flee
Difficulty remembering/forgetfulness
Difficulty concentrating
Rumination (being stuck on a specific thought or situation and playing it over and over again in your mind)
Rapid, pressured speech
Difficulty sleeping
Somatic complaints (headaches, diarrhoea, nausea, vomiting)
Why is this happening? The biology/neurology behind anxiety
Anxiety is when the ‘Amygdala’ (threat detection centre of the brain) detects a threat
to the individual and surges ‘the body with adrenaline, cortisol and other
stress hormones to help the individual survive the perceived danger’. These
chemicals help us be strong, fast and powerful to effectively face the danger
and improve our chances of survival. This response is more commonly known as
the “Fight or Flight” response or as it is more accurately called ‘Fight,
Flight or Freeze’.
The amygdala is a very important part of the brain. For example, the amygdala is
the part of the brain that allows us to safely cross a road, fight off an
attack or run from something dangerous if need be. When the amygdala is working in “overdrive” anxiety can occur. For example, the amygdala works just like the sensor light for your house. The sensor lights up when someone walks by, to alert you that people are approaching
and to be on the lookout for any possible danger. An amygdala in overdrive works just like a sensor light that keeps randomly turning on for no reason, meaning you keep having to look out the front window repeatedly thinking someone is invading your yard. In other words your sensor light has become
faulty and is sending you warning signals when not needed.
For this reason anxiety is often not rational and at times can seem silly or trivial to others without anxiety.
However, it is important to know that the fear, thoughts and beliefs the child
reports are real to the child and they genuinely believe the bad thing they are
hypothesising, is almost certain to happen. Therefore it is important to have
compassion and support people with anxiety as they often feel stuck and can
need outside help to change.
See Hear Speak Psychology has a number of psychologists that can help your child or
teenager with anxiety. We also support many parents to learn how to manage
their own anxiety in the face of their child’s fear.
Jessica Alpin - Registered Psychologist