What Is Dysfunctional Anxiety? Keys To Understanding This Type Of Anxiety
What can we do about dysfunctional anxiety? How can this type of anxiety affect us? Discover the keys to understanding it and how to deal with it.
Let’s start with the most important thing, how does anxiety work? The anxiety response begins when there is a real danger that threatens us. Faced with this stimulus, the body’s response is activated, which can be fight or flight. Thus, a series of bodily activations are triggered in order to solve the problem: the respiratory rate increases, the heart rate increases, we secrete sweat, etc. The function of all this is to increase adrenaline to be able to fight against danger if possible, or run away from it if necessary. But what if our anxiety is dysfunctional?
So if anxiety is a natural response and not “bad,” why does it make me uncomfortable? Well, that natural response we have been talking about is functional when the danger that threatens us is real. The “problem” begins when the body activates the alarm response to an imaginary danger and there is a dysfunctional anxiety (as could be catastrophic thoughts, the famous: “and if…“).
In these situations, since the danger is not real, the responses remain active longer than they should due to the fear generated by the threat, and consequently, the sensations increase (the heart beats faster, one breathes faster, one muscles tense, sensations of dizziness, fatigue, drowsiness of the extremities, etc. appear), producing catastrophic interpretations (“I’m having a fit”, “I’m going to die”, “I’m drowning”“, etc.), and therefore the level of alarm is maintained. In short, it becomes a vicious circle (imaginary threat, fear, increased bodily sensations, catastrophic interpretations and threat again).
But then, if there is a dysfunctional anxiety response Why isn’t anxiety my enemy? Let me tell you, waging war on anxiety is not going to solve anything. The first step to overcoming dysfunctional anxiety is to accept that you have anxiety, know your body, work to identify the alarm signals and look for the origin; look for danger to know if it is real or imaginary. That is why it is important when we have anxiety, to stop for a moment and let it invade us, and feel each of the symptoms. If we know what is going to happen to us, the fear signal is not activated, and the vicious circle we talked about before stops.
Therefore, you must know that anxiety can present itself in 3 forms:
On a physiological level: this is where all the physical symptoms come in, such as tachycardia, rapid breathing, sweating, dizziness, etc.
At a cognitive level: repetitive thoughts, usually negative, catastrophic thoughts, etc.
On a motor level: they are usually nervous tics such as the eyelid trembling.
How to deal with dysfunctional anxiety?
In short, if we know what signals our body usually has in response to the signal, we learn to let the first symptoms appear and simply observe them, and we have good control strategies; Anxiety can be controlled and managed properly. But it is important not to start a “war” against it, because that will only make the situation worse.
For many years the anxiety response It has saved us from numerous dangers, and it continues to do so today. The work consists of learning to identify reality and what responses are being faced with imaginary dangers. If you are going through a period with more anxiety or think you may have an anxiety disorder, I encourage you to go to a psychology professional to learn how to manage it.
