As we think more about achieving wellbeing, let’s discuss the most common feeling with which people have trouble: Anxiety is a normal, healthy emotion that includes thoughts, sensations, and the urge to behave in specific ways. It occurs after your fear circuitry is triggered in the presence of ongoing uncertainty. Our fear circuitry is a …
Let’s think about what it would have been like to be a cave person in order to understand the evolutionary utility of the anxiety response. You and me, cave people, are sitting next to each around a fire, discussing our recent drawings on our cave. The fire is warm and the conversation is calm, yet engaging. …
An anxiety state becomes an anxiety disorder when the individual adds an interpretation of danger and responds accordingly. Individuals with anxiety disorders believe their catastrophic thoughts and attempt to problem solve or avoid their thoughts, feelings, and sensations. Although there are other characteristics of each disorder, one way to think about the specific anxiety disorders is …
Your response to an anxiety state depends on your interpretation of the meaning of that state. The meaning that you could give an anxiety state ranges from danger on one side to opportunity on the other. People who believe “anxiety = danger” avoid internal and external situations that make them anxious. This is the primary …
As explained in the spectrum of responses to anxiety post, the spectrum of responses to anxiety an individual could display ranges from avoidance to exposure. The belief of a person who avoids is that he or she is in danger. In contrast, the belief of a person who exposes herself to the anxiety on purpose …
Avoidance creates, maintains, and intensifies anxietyRead More »