anxiety what and why

Anxiety - What & Why

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REFERENCE
ELEPHANT/RIDER MODEL
- 1 Elephant/Rider Model
- 2 The Elephant…
  - 2.1 Training the Elephant
  - 2.2 Retraining the Elephant
  - 2.3 Feeding the Elephant
  - 2.4 Bias in the Elephant
- 3 The Rider…
  - 3.1 When the Rider Leads!
  - 3.2 Rider Modes
    - 3.2.1 Observing Self
    - 3.2.2 Processor Self
    - 3.2.3 The Inner Lawyer
  - 3.3 Bias in the Rider
- 4 Psychological Skills…
  - 4.1 #1 Psychological Skill
    - 4.1.1 Why Sitting Quietly
    - 4.1.2 Why SQ Works
    - 4.1.3 Ways to Engage SQ
  - 4.2 Self-Awareness
    - 4.2.1 The Observing Self
    - 4.2.2 Defusion
  - 4.3 Self-Regulation
    - 4.3.1 Step Back
    - 4.3.2 Acceptance
    - 4.3.5 Self-Talk
    - 4.3.7 Critical Thinking Skills
  - 4.4 CBT in the ERM
    - 4.4.1 Using CBT
  - 4.5 Workability
  - 4.6 Effective Criticism
  - 4.7 Appeal to the Elephant
- 5 Awakening…
  - 5.1 Conditioning
  - 5.2 Ignorance
    - 5.2.1 More on Ignorance
  - 5.3 Delusion
    - 5.3.1 The Elephant Duped
    - 5.3.2 A Dichotomy Disorder…
    - 5.3.3 The Wrath…
    - 5.3.4 Types of Delusion
SITTING QUIETLY
- Sitting Quietly
- 1 Self-Care…
  - 1.1 On Being…
  - 1.2 On Well-Being…
  - 1.3 On the Big Rocks…
  - 1.4 On Integrity
  - 1.5 Your North Star
- 2 Relaxation…
  - 2.1 Abdominal Breathing
  - 2.2 Box Breathing
  - 2.3 Relaxation Response
  - 2.4 A Calming Intervention
  - 2.5 Muscle Relaxation
- 3 The Observing Self…
  - 3.1 Using CBT
- 4 Defusion…
  - 4.1 …With Thoughts
  - 4.2 Getting Rid Of…
  - 4.3 …With Feelings
  - 4.4 …With Difficult Feelings
  - 4.5 …When Distressed
- 5 Acceptance
  - 5.1 Acceptance 101
LIFE PRACTICES
- Life Practices…
- 1 Self-Care
- 2 Well Being
- 3 Sitting Quietly
- 4 Personal Growth
  - 4.1 Awakening
  - 4.2 The Examined Life
  - 4.3 Goal Setting
- 5 The Habit of Discovery
- 6 Altruism (“Their-Care”)
COGNITIVE BEHAVIORAL THERAPY
- Change the World…
  - – The Captain
  - – The Subway
- Introduction to CBT
- Using CBT
- CBT Basic Concepts…
  - – Thoughts vs Feelings
  - – Core Beliefs & Conditioning
  - – Why We Learn
  - – Psychological Skills
- Defense Mechanisms
- Common Distortions
- Automatic Thoughts (ATs)
  - – Questioning ATs
  - – Examples of ATs
- Disputation Strategies
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Contact

What does it mean to say, “I have anxiety”…

…or to be diagnosed with some kind of anxiety disorder?

It is first important to understand what anxiety is – and then why one “gets” or “has” anxiety – because, well…many come to incorrectly believe anxiety “is a bad thing” and thus something to be avoided or fixed or even ashamed of.

What is Anxiety?

Anxiety is an emotional reaction- created by the Elephant - to a stimulus that results in a feeling - which is thus "sensed" and "experienced" by the Rider.

Anxiety (the emotion) is triggered (i.e., stimulated) in the Elephant by its sensing fear or threat...that produces physical changes and mental activity...which then results in anxiety (the feeling) experienced by the Rider. It is this feeling that we call "anxiety" - and which drives other feelings we may describe with words like fear, stress, concern, worry, apprehension, dread, panic, tension, etc.

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The physical presentation (i.e., experience) can be a racing heart, sharp shallow breathing, sweating, fatigue (tiredness), agitation (restlessness), muscle tension, etc; and the mental presentation can be one of a persistent, even overwhelming fear, dread, or intense uneasiness. Because anxiety, like any emotion, is subject to a scale of intensity meaning it can be experienced from "lightly" to "deeply" and "briefly" to "overwhelming

So, anxiety is a reaction and thus "telling us something" about what we're experiencing. Reactions are - and should be considered as - messengers of what we're feeling - i.e., experiencing - in each successive existential moment we are given. It's what we call life - which is, axiomatically, living...

What is Anxiety CLOSE

GOOD Anxiety

Anxiety might be described as a a kind of personal bodyguard that tries to protect us - which is "mostly" a good thing (!) - although it's difficult to accept this fact when one is in the throes of fear, fatigue, or a panic attack. And, let's be clear, that anxiety - that smothering protectiveness - is not a good thing in such instance.

Yet, think of anxiety more as your "built-in" warning system...it's telling you to pay attention to something that is happening or might happen.

The volume, or intensity, of the warning (i.e., the anxious feelings you're having) varies - think of the range of notification you can experience to "get your attention"...from your phone in silent mode vibrating to its "ringing," and more, to an annoying buzzer to a clanging alarm to a screeching siren...! And this is usually "a good thing" - being warned of a threatening event or situation can help us to prepare for or avoid harmful, painful, or somehow debilitating consequences.

In fact, one could argue that anxiety is the critical factor in why we're here; had our ancestors not been able to see or sense mortal danger the human species wouldn't have survived...

GOOD Anxiety CLOSE

BAD Anxiety

Actually, there is no "bad" anxiety...

...but, there are ways that anxiety can become problematic, including:

When our built-in warning system - and the anxiety so generated to communicate some danger or potential threat - malfunctions...as in "being set off" due to false or erroneous interpretation of sensed stimuli (an Elephant problem); and
When we are unable to adequately self-regulate our experiential difficulties; i.e., having fears, problems, stressors, and social/relationship issues (a Rider problem).

In both it seems "the alarm" can't be turned off (or down) and keeps ringing, or buzzing, or clanging, or blaring - which is manifest as chronic fear, paranoia, sleeplessness, obsessive worrying, rumination, even panic attack.

This we could call dysfunctional anxiety; and it's what you may be struggling with. This is also the stuff of DSM diagnoses like Adjustment Disorder, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, PTSD, OCD, Agoraphobia, Social Anxiety Disorder, and more...

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Like anger (another potentially intense and possibly overwhelming feeling), it's not the emotion that can be a problem but one's capability to manage and regulate the response in such experience.

It's the not having learned and developed such capability that leads of course to all the aforementioned experiential negatives, along with possibly such diagnoses...

BAD Anxiety CLOSE

The HOW of BAD...

"Bad anxiety" - as in dysfunctional - is when the anxiety we're experiencing leads to - "fuels" or "drives" if you will - behaviors that "get in the way" or prevent us from doing what we would otherwise rather be doing; such behaviors would include worrying, sleeplessness, avoiding, staying in, socially isolating, numbing (drinking/smoking), etc.

The book Rewire Your Anxious Brain (see Resources below) provides a wonderful explanation of how our minds work - or more precisely, how they can "malfunction" - in experiencing, reacting, and responding to anxiety. (Note: It uses the formal, scientific language of "amygdala" for the Elephant [although the amygdala is only one of many other parts of the Elephant brain] and "cortex" for the Rider.)

Understanding HOW the Elephant and the Rider "malfunction" can be critically helpful in developing such self-regulating capability to successfully manage our "good anxiety" and treat "bad (i.e., dysfunctional) anxiety." Here, in brief, are some ways of HOW the Elephant and the Rider "get it wrong":

The Elephant

"misinterpreting" sensory input; e.g., it "sees" a snake when it perceives a bent stick.
undetermined association of a sensory input to a prior traumatic episode (e.g., the smell of soap to being in war)
panic attack from unknown cause

The Rider

interpreting perfectly safe sensations as threatening
through delusional or irrational thinking
believing in the absolute truth of mere thoughts

The HOW of BAD...CLOSE

Helpful resources...

Website: Navigating Anxiety

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The book:

Rewire Your Anxious Brain - how to use the neuroscience of fear to end anxiety, panic & worry

by Pittman and Karle, 2015.

This book is highly recommended as a very helpful resource in "learning and developing the capacity to manage and self-regulate one's response" to anxiety. (Note: It serendipitously utilizes the framework of the ERM [in using "amygdalla" for Elephant and "cortex" for Rider]).

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Managing Anxiety

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Treatment of/for Anxiety

Helpful resources...CLOSE