How to manage anxiety? An expert answers 8 questions

How can I manage anxiety? Will I be able to live better, without so many crises? How do I start? I propose to start with an explanation, to provide you with knowledge about the reasons for the symptoms you are suffering.

A professional answers your questions

Below we collect some of the most common questions about anxiety management, answered by a Psychology expert.

1. Why is it important to understand what is happening to you?

Because anxiety, panic and phobias grow with fear and uncertainty. Shedding certainty and knowledge on the symptoms to create a space of greater self-knowledge will generate an increase in well-being and sufficient security to begin to confront them.

That is why today I answer a series of frequently asked questions that I find myself consulting. I always encourage you not to be left with doubts, ask. Keep in mind that knowing is the primary element that will launch any process of change, so in a I try to provide useful, practical and precise information, in this article I answer those doubts that are so common. they repeat.

2. Is it normal to feel anxious?

Yeah. Anxiety is a set of emotions and physical sensations that arise spontaneously when we interpret that we are facing a novel or highly demanding situation.. When we feel overwhelmed by the high demands of the environment and we do not consider that we have the resources enough to deal with such a circumstance, the brain emits signals that activate us because we need many resources. That is why before an exam we feel more alert in order to increase our performance.

However, if the manifestation of anxiety becomes excessive, leading to a decrease in the person's quality of life, it may be that we are experiencing maladaptive anxiety. Almost everyone recognizes the sensation of muscle rigidity, restlessness, fear, alarm, impatience... but what is less known is that Sensations such as tingling, dizziness, blurred vision, numbness, and feelings of choking or suffocation are also ways in which anxiety manifests itself. manifests.

3. Why can't I stop feeling fear and anxiety?

Fear, which would be an immediate anxiety response, is a response that activates us to fight or flee. If I perceive or interpret something as a threat, the body prepares to face said threat. Anxiety, after all, is a mechanism to protect the body. Imagine in the dark on a lonely street, if you were distracted and did not experience a minimum of alarm and activation, you would be defenseless against a fast vehicle that suddenly crosses the street.

A competent fight-or-flight response is sure to make you jump out of the way enough to continue on your way safely.. All those annoying sensations are there so you can take quick action. The function of such a state of alarm is none other than to protect us.

4. How does that alarm response work?

Once a threat is perceived or interpreted, the brain communicates it to the Autonomous Nervous System, which, as its name indicates, works on its own. This is made up of two branches, the parasympathetic and the sympathetic. Between the two, they regulate our state of energy and resources.

The sympathetic activates us to escape or fight and the parasympathetic brings us back to calm. The key point here is to understand that the sympathetic branch works in an all-or-nothing manner and this helps you understand why in that state of overexcitement you experience many symptoms and not just one. Once the sympathetic response is launched, it activates the entire body.

At this point, it will be comforting to know that it is a self-limiting branch, that means that it self-limits. stop once a peak of activation is reached so that from that moment on the parasympathetic branch returns you to the calm. Anxiety is not an infinite loop spiral that reaches levels where you can be harmed, it is extremely annoying but harmless. Understanding this will bring you some calm. Keep in mind that the parasympathetic is like an internal protective regulator that will be activated by cutting off anxiety so that it does not escalate uncontrollably.

5. And why is my heart beating so fast?

To increase blood flow to large muscles such as those in the legs and you can carry out a defensive action. Not only will you feel like your heart is “beating out”, in addition to this, your hands and feet will be cold. By increasing blood flow to large muscles, blood flow to the extremities decreases, causing numbness or tingling.. If a cut occurs and irrigation is decreased in the distal regions of the extremities, it is less likely that bleeding and if the irrigation is high in muscles such as quadriceps or triceps, the response to movement will be faster and effective.

6. And why do I get dizzy?

Because when such a quantity of blood is diverted to the muscles and blood flow to the brain is reduced, you experience that feeling of dizziness that can be so scary. These tense tissues will require greater oxygenation, so breathing gains speed and this increase in the breathing rate gives the sensation that we are short of air. It is a useful tool to repeat to ourselves in those moments that the changes we experience are to protect ourselves and make us more effective in the face of danger.

It is not useful to focus on trying to eradicate or control intrusive thoughts in moments of greatest anxiety., starting by becoming aware of the symptoms you experience and the reason for them already offers security by reducing the emotional burden that is attached to them. From a more reflective and less convulsive state, we will be able to work better at developing tools that are practical for us.

7. What other changes are normal?

First of all, emphasize that none of them are dangerous by themselves, remember that they prepare you to face a perceived danger; But to name a few, pupil dilation normally appears so that more light can enter and have greater visibility, which can cause blurred vision, spots when looking...

Salivation decreases and digesting in the middle of a supposed attack is not very useful for a good fight or flight response. This is why dry mouth or heavy digestion is usually experienced. There are those whose appetite stops immediately. It is also common to experience tremors or muscle jerks as a result of the massive activation of tissues under sustained tension.. As you might expect, this consumes a lot of energy and afterwards it is completely normal to feel a state of exhaustion.

8. Is anxiety a disorder?

Anxiety is a state of hyperactivation of the sympathetic branch of the Nervous System that does not have to be necessarily dysfunctional but there are diagnostic entities that present with a common symptom of anxiety pathological. According to genetic factors, educational style, traumatic experiences, traits of the individual personality and current stressors in the person's life, anxiety could become be pathological taking a different form of presentation in its conformation and can give rise to panic disorder, phobias, disorder obsessive compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, agoraphobia or social phobia.

It is a priority to understand it, to understand how it is expressed in each person, to remodel the interpretation we make of the events that happen in our daily lives and establish an action plan that helps manage these reactions so that the responses are functional and contribute balance.

Conclusions

It is important to emphasize that this information does not replace an individualized professional consultation, although I hope it contributes as guidance and resolution of frequently asked questions. If you consider that you have problems derived from poor management of such symptoms, I encourage you to Contact a properly trained professional to help you on your path to greater well-being and calm. The cost of not facing our fears is allowing them to gain ground on us, and this, if it breaks into your peace of mind, is usually too expensive..