– Tips for Managing Anxiety (Part 4 of 10): Don’t be fooled…again

Last Updated on January 27, 2013 by Chris Roberts

Even though it walks and talks like worry, it isn’t always worry.

References- “10 Best-Ever Anxiety-Management Techniques” an article on Psychotherapy Networker by Margaret Wehrenberg

Worry has a magical (also read: sorcerous) ability to trick us into believing that the physical sensations of worry we are experiencing must be tied to a real event.  There is no doubt the sweaty palms, or racing brain, or cold chills are a real sensation.  That cannot be argued.  But sometimes, even oftentimes, those sensations are not actually tied to a real event.  However, to an anxious brain, separating the two are a highly difficult task.

A client of mine came up with the phrase, “Not every thunderstorm is a tornado” to help her stay calm during the anxious sensations she would experience when bad weather was forecasted.  She would still feel the cold chills and increased heart rate, but she began to practice believing that her anxious feelings couldn’t actually predict, or create, a tornado!  Even though her body was screaming, “You need to worry about this!  You need to prepare and take action,” she began to take back control with her mind by ignoring those bodily sensations, focusing on other bodily sensations, and calming her mind with a phrase she found practical and helpful.

For other people, those same sensations of worry can pop up out-of-the-blue without a tangible item to cling to, like the weather.  For these people, an end game, all out scavenger hunt ensues to discover the “real event” that must be causing these feelings.  As with most things in our life, if we put enough effort and energy into something we can usually make it come true either in reality or in our minds.  In dealing with anxiety it is safe to say that if we go looking for worry, we will always find it.  Margaret Wehrenbert describes it as, “that physical, pit-of-the-stomach sense of doom that comes on for no reason, and then compels an explanation for why it’s there. This feeling of dread and tension, experienced by most GAD (General Anxiety Disorder) clients, actually comprises a state of low-grade fear, which can also cause other physical symptoms, like headache, temporo-mandibular joint (TMJ) pain, and ulcers.”  She goes on to say, “Few realize that the feeling of dread is just the emotional manifestation of physical tension.”

Once a person can begin to recognize the initial feeling of fear or sense of doom, they can use it as a cue to start a relaxation procedure they have established in the past.  Some people use a breathing exercise, or calming images, or a helpful mantra.  It doesn’t matter what you use as long as it is something you have worked on in the past, and have had some success in achieving a relaxed state.

Without realizing it, anxiety becomes a habit based in neurological super-connections where our reactions to certain stimuli feel automatic and involuntary.  Usually, when a person realizes that the anxious thoughts can be redirected, (and not lead automatically into a state of panic or anxiety) they can regain some of their power that hitherto had been given over to anxiety.  Anxiety counseling can be a helpful place to nail down the triggers of anxiety, and practice redirecting thoughts and habits.