3 types of anxiety and how to overcome it

By Victor Amat and Bet Font

One day, at the door of our children’s school, a mother explained to us that she had not been able to sleep for a long time because the thoughts about the present and the future they overwhelmed her. She wanted to calm down and she was desperate when she couldn’t.

Full of concern, she had visited her doctor and had been taking a drug that he had recommended for some time, while explaining that anxiety is a disease like any other. “Just like you take a pill for high blood pressure, if you have anxiety, you take a sleeping pill“, he had told her.

She lamented that everyone around her seemed an expert on the subject. She was advised plants, acupuncture, reiki, meditation, sports… Others told her that I didn’t know how to relax and he took everything tremendously. Recently, his partner had suggested that, deep down, since she had nothing to do, she herself created those unpleasant sensations.

The question is that she felt worse and more disoriented. Although taking the doctor’s pills didn’t take away her worries, she feared running out of pills, and that made her urgently seek a prescription if she ran out. That day we asked ourselves: if pills don’t cure worry, why do we take them to alleviate anxiety?

The creative potential of the imagination is endless.

talk today about anxiety it’s making it an extended difficulty: who doesn’t know someone caught in the grip of fear and worry? Paradoxically, it is a great unknown that can lead to emotional breakdown.

Some people still feel ashamed of it, while they strive to get rid of what some authors consider the most representative psychological characteristic of the current West as soon as possible.

Heanxiety problem it is that, at certain levels, it does not respond to a reasonable approach. It seems that there is no way to master it and neither advice nor help reassures us. This is the most common ailment to which the mind leads us throughout the world, while the pharmaceutical industry it rubs its hands providing medications that are not always effective in resolving it.

a knee jerk reaction

Often anxiety has to do with what is not said, with what we do not dare to verbalize or should face. Perhaps the key is to recognize that behind the anguish fear is hidden: fear of what can happen, of what we can intuit as dangerous.

The fear reaction is designed to make us face a difficulty or we avoid it. For example, when seeing a ferocious animal, the instinctive reaction is to run away. There the unconscious takes control of the situation, decides in milliseconds that it is time to run away and activates the bodily faculties that allow it to be done. He does not dwell on analyzing the potential danger.

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When faced with a bear, stopping to figure out which is the best option could be a lethal waste of time, which is why we react instinctively.

The problem arises when the brain responds to an apparently minor or insignificant stimulus and the nervous system reacts as if we were facing a beasteven if we only have to face an elevator, an auditorium or an important decision making.

It is good to know that the unconscious does not understand jokes. For him, danger is danger and fear is fear. For this reason, trying to be reasonable in the face of a fear that is terrifying for the brain can be inefficient. Neurology betrays us without paying attention to reasons.

What do we fear?

There are many types of fears that cause anxiety, from simple fears and for a very justified cause, such as fear of snakes or insects, of other more elaborate fearslike the fear of what they will say, of men, of being trapped, of dying or losing your sanity, of getting sick… The list is endless.

When it comes to fear, the creative potential of the imagination is endless. In addition, any of these apprehensions has a glimmer of possibility that, without a doubt, justifies the fearful.

It is as we verify that our fears do not go away and we do not calm down when we try to handle them with greater or lesser success. Anxiety is often anticipatory; that is to say, it is perpetuated in the attempt to dominate what has not yet happened and may never happen.

The afflicted can remember the man who made a fuss in the street. When asked why he was acting like this, he replied: “scare away lions“. When pointed out that there were no lions in the area, the man said: “See? It works!“. That is The cross of the anxious: believing that fear can be mastered until over time, if stressful circumstances persist long enough, grief takes over.

The three levels of anxiety

As Paracelsus, a Swiss physician from the 16th century, stated, the dose, rather than the substance itself, is what differentiates a poison from a medicine. The total absence of anxiety would be very detrimental to the subsistence of the human speciesThat is why nature has been in charge of establishing these neural networks that keep us going, motivated and interested in getting ahead as individuals and as a species.

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1. Bearable anxiety

At a first level, which we could call low or moderate anxiety, we are able to handle worries and fears in a bearable way. We can talk to people who can offer their experiences and advice, and we cope with worry quite effectively.

Meditation, yoga, or any low-intensity physical activity is helpful. in this case. The fact of facing this type of life difficulties and doing it successfully generates a sense of achievement and learning that reinforces self-esteem: we feel ourselves growing and we configure our confidence for the future.

that’s why it’s not bad allow children to deal with small difficulties on their own and learn from the consequences of their actions. That way, while we lovingly supervise them, we can help them build an image of themselves in which they can overcome age-appropriate pitfalls.

2. High anxiety

On a second level, in the high anxiety, stress and personal apprehensions lead to feeling the physiological manifestations of anxiety. They are recognized in symptoms such as palpitations, tachycardia, unpleasant sensations in the stomach, tremors, instability, dizziness or paresthesias, among others. The thought can become torrential and negative thoughts appear.

Bodily sensations are more perceptible, they begin to be unpleasant, and attempts to control the body require great effort. You may have trouble sleeping and feel fatigued. At this point, the person finds it difficult to follow the suggestions of the environment and feels bad since your worries never seem to end.

It is convenient then to make some healthy decisions, and perhaps intense exercise will be more effective than calmer proposals that work with low anxiety. It is time to consider some changes.

Is everything okay in my social relationships? Do we work well as a couple? Does my job stress me out? This type of heightened anxiety can lead to questioning the model of life. Perhaps the solution is to address postponed changes or conflicts that are avoided to deal with.

3. Unbearable anxiety

At the third level, that of the unbearable anxietyIt seems that everything is beyond our control. In this place, anxiety runs rampant and becomes paradoxical: everything that should help seems to make the problem worse. Anxiety turns into a nightmare that seems to have no end. Attempts to maintain control lead to losing it, and the more relaxation is sought, the more anxiety grows.

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Positive thinking, instead of helping, leads to feeling helpless when we see that our worst fears are more powerful than our vain attempts to visualize that everything will be fine. When the anguish is so pronounced it is necessary to contact a good professionalsince the environment, despite its displays of affection, what it does is aggravate irritation.

It is a priority then return to the path of health through actions in all areas of life: learn to take care of food, perform physical exercises and have resources that allow fear to be channeled and returned to its real size. Many psychological and spiritual techniques can be of help at such times.

The good news is that there are things that can be done. The bad news is that it takes some time to make peace with yourself.

Strategies that will be useful to you

When you don’t know what to do, it’s helpful to have some ideas for dealing with anxiety, as their presence may indicate that the time has come to make important decisions.

make apowerful physical activity It has been shown to be more effective than drugs in managing stress.Practice disciplines likeyoga or meditation They can be exceptional resources to balance.carry apersonal diary It is very useful to recognize the things that worry you and give yourself time to react.Don’t be talking about anxiety all the time because, contrary to what is believed, doing so is a way of aggravating it.Carrying out activities despite being anxious. Announcing to our environment that we are not very fine, without giving too many details, is a good resource to face feared situations.Have advice to follow a healthy diet free of exciting substances that allows you to flow with the daily stresses.

A road with ups and downs

As we said, anxiety is terribly paradoxical; therefore, to get rid of it, we need to “dress slowly if we are in a hurry”. Surround yourself with a good team of professionals and persevere on a path that is often full of ups and downs It is the key to the solution to anxiety.

Learn for a while to live with herBy setting appropriate goals, you will help to feel free from fear and guilt. Attenuating these two feelings is essential to be able to sleep peacefully in the near future because, as William Shakespeare said, “there is no night that does not see day.”