How does Anxiety work?

[Peper]

Hello!

Im kinda of new here, found this place a year ago looking for help for my then partner, we broke up because of his anxiety/anger issues. Back then i said my anxiety was flaring up, i was right. Now i am going through a full blown anxiety phase and i do not like it. I overcame it years ago and it was heaven. I am so frustrated now. It seems though as if it is easier to deal with as i have the tools.

So i was wondering, how does anxiety work? Is it just stress expressing itself? The way  i see it is, we stress our bodies and minds for some time without noticing or without doing anything about it, then all of a sudden the thoughts come in as if the physical stress of our bodies turned a switch on in out minds and said: it's time to "party!!"

 I feel weird this time round. I have the negative thoughts, but in general my thinking is healthy. I feel like there has been a dark veil spread over everything not letting me see clearly and giving me all sorts of negative thoughts (mostly of my relationship, jealousy/suspicion).

It is almost like this is my body's reaction to stress and my mind is struggling to keep the positive thoughts afloat.

How does it work?

[CraftyDivaz]

Hi Peper,

I wrote the below then re-read your post n you seem to know what I wrote but I post it anyway in case reminder helps. But I think from what I have read you're onto the right idea. I think I t's kind of like the flight of fight response humans have for self preservation, only it can work in disadvantage if for relatively normal situations that we can't avoid & repeats too often. It's like your brain n body get into bad habbit of reacting too strongly to certain level of stress or certain situations/thoughts & unfortunately can also "cycle".

I think we're not supposed to post links, but go ahead & Google "anxiety" it'll give you the basic info. 

In terms of how if feels, it can be light to feeling like butterfly I stomach if bad enough to feel like nausea. It can unfortunately consume all your energy & brain power & make it near impossible to think about anything other then the events/thoughts making you anxious. 

I have always used the tricks involving focussing using on your breathing & various distraction methods to help reduce anxiety. You need to experiment with various activities you know you normally enjoy until you find some that help distract you from anxious thoughts/feelings. Once you find out what works make a list somewhere in case you need to use them again later. 

Hope it helps some. CraftyDivaz

[blondguy]

Hi Peper

Sorry for the late response and a Warm Welcome to the BB Forums

Thankyou for posting! I have had severe anxiety for 25 years...had...It does lose its severity after time but to answer your question(s) I hope I can....

* Anxiety is letting us know we are thinking and revving way too hard which then (if we are susceptible to it) results in the adrenaline flow increasing so much we have these 'bad feelings' (ok they are symptoms)

* Anxiety can also be the result of a 'tired' mind....overthinking....the jealousy...the negative thoughts...

* Yes Peper....Even though stress can accumulate some people get migraines..some get anxiety....Ongoing life events.....(breaking up with your boyfriend)...can trigger anxiety even well after the event

* You mentioned and if I may quote you..."but in general my thinking is healthy" that is a huge bonus Peper 🙂

Do you have any other symptoms of anxiety?....you seem to have a good grasp of it from what I can ascertain..

Here for you Peper and I hope you are having some peace during your easter break

Kind Thoughts for You

Paul