anxiety
Anxiety is a psychological reaction to a perceived stimulus. And although it is a psychological state it is also a physiological state. A psychological state or feeling may create the physiological state which then feeds back to the psychological perception which exacerbates the feelings. This can become the vicious cycle of anxiety. The cycle can also be initiated by the physiological state. The feelings of anxiety can include dread and fear. However, anxiety is more than simply being afraid.
It is well known that the part of your brain that controls your emotions is the limbic system. The structure that is the most responsible for the experience of fear is the amygdala which is an almond shaped (amygdala means almond) group of nuclei in the front of your temporal lobe which is near your temple. When we are excited buy a stimuli we may experience emotions that are accompanied by what has been called the flight or fight response. This response is controlled by the limbic system and amygdala and prepares us to protect ourselves. This is accompanied by a cascade of neurotransmitter release that increases our vigilance and our readiness for battle. The primary physiological influence probably comes from our sympathetic nervous system which increases the activity of our major organs thereby causing our hearts to beat faster and our stomachs to stop digesting.
The pharmacological treatments for anxiety are the class of drugs known as benzodiazepines. These drugs are GABA agonists which is to say that they increase the action of this powerful inhibitory neurotransmitter called GABA in the brain. This works to alleviate anxiety because inhibition of the limbic system creates a physiological state that is the opposite of the state that is experienced during times of anxiety. The problem with anxiety is that although we experience this perceived threat which increases the activity of our limbic system we never have the opportunity to fight or run away from the stimulus. Therefore, we feel as though we don’t have control over the stimulus or over our own feelings of fear.
Anxiety occurs when we do not feel as though we have control over our lives and over the threats we face. Studies have shown that when animals are placed in dangerous situations they fair much better when they have some control over the outcome of the danger regardless of whether or not it alleviates the dangerous situation from occurring. The very same is true in our own lives. If we are able to adapt and overcome the problems we face in life we are no longer in fear of, or have anxiety over, these problems. It is when we perceive a lack of control over the outcome that we feel anxious.
You can trick the brain into believing that the danger has passed. You can do this with the use of pharmacological assistance, you can also do this through strenuous physical exercise, and through relaxation and guided imagery techniques (please see my blog on Guided Imagery for a description). All of these can be very effective in treating anxiety. However, taking benzodiazepines long term is not a good idea because they are very addicting and because they will lose their effectiveness after a while. Strenuous exercise is probably the most effective treatment for anxiety, but it can be difficult to exercise if you are too anxious and there is a limit to how much you can exercise. Guided Imagery and relaxation will also work very well for decreasing an anxious mood state. Although all of these are very effective they do not erase the stimulus or situation that is causing the anxiety in your life. You must do the work to make the changes that remove the offending stimulus from your life. This may be very difficult to do alone. A trained psychotherapist may be able to help you recognize the offending cause if you cannot see it for yourself.
Sometimes in life we cannot change the things the way that we would like, and sometimes it takes a long time to make these changes. Patience truly is a virtue.
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