Understanding Anxiety

What Is Anxiety?

Anxiety is a common condition that can sometimes feel overwhelming and lead to unhealthy behaviors. However, it can also be helpful in certain situations. To fully grasp how anxiety can have both positive and negative effects, it is essential to understand its nature and development

How Anxiety Develops in the Nervous System

The nervous system constantly works to maintain a delicate balance, monitoring our internal state and sending signals to organs and glands to keep things stable. When we encounter a real or perceived danger, the nervous system triggers the release of chemicals throughout the body to help us respond. This reaction is experienced as stress. Normally, the nervous system helps us cope with stressors—whether external or internal—so the body can return to balance, or homeostasis. The physiological stress response can be mild or severe depending on the situation.

Real vs. Perceived Threats

A major complication is that we often cannot determine if a threat is real or just perceived. If the threat is genuine, our system adapts and returns to homeostasis, while the fight-or-flight system protects us. But if the perceived danger is based on a prediction error or negative narratives, there is no resolution, leading to chronic, overwhelming stress. The body stays on high alert, unable to recover, and we remain unsure whether to run, hide, or ignore these signals. This ongoing uncertainty keeps stress levels high, which can lead to anxiety. Anxiety is not only a mental state—it becomes a real physical condition with many complexities.

Individual Experiences and Types of Anxiety

Anyone can experience anxiety or panic, but triggers vary from person to person. While the physiological stress response is similar across individuals, anxiety differs based on intensity, biology, environment, and triggers. Feeling safe is crucial for mental and physical health. Anxiety arises when we do not feel safe, but it is more than fear; it is a dysregulated state of the nervous system. Anxiety can be chronic, as in Generalized Anxiety Disorder; specific, as in Social, Performance, or Separation Anxiety; linked to phobias; or triggered by reminders of past trauma, as seen in PTSD.

The Dual Nature of Anxiety

Anxiety can be overwhelming and even debilitating, but it can also be mild or adaptive and beneficial. Some people experience anxiety only in certain situations, while others feel it constantly. Anxiety can be helpful and adaptive if it helps you prepare for a challenging situation.

The Stress Response and Its Benefits

Stress is helpful and necessary in threatening situations. The body's physiological stress response enables us to cope and adapt. Without this system, survival would not be possible. Stress—which may feel like fear or alarm—can be positive when it motivates us to act in beneficial ways. and beneficial in a dangerous or threatening situation.

Chronic Anxiety and Internal Conflict

Anxiety becomes problematic when we cannot calm down after stress. It is a state of constant or high involuntary arousal of the autonomic nervous system. Trying to consciously control the autonomic system—which is not under conscious control—creates conflict between the conscious and unconscious parts of the brain. This pushes the body further out of balance. To restore balance, the brain creates narratives that match the body's dysregulated state, telling us something is wrong or there is an unknown threat. This increases dysregulation and strengthens anxiety.

Expert Insights on Anxiety

Stephen Porges, author of Our Polyvagal World, puts it this way: “While we evolved to be occasional tourists to the state of fear and alarm, some of us have become full-time residents.”

The Role of Narratives in Anxiety

Anxiety is a complex emotion with many perspectives. If we see anxiety as part of our survival system, it becomes clear that it is designed to protect and help us. The main challenge is avoiding being stuck in a state of fear or alarm. Trusting our system, listening, letting go, and moving forward can help us avoid being caught up in anxiety. We cannot always trust our thoughts or emotions; sometimes we experience prediction errors. The narrative we create internally—often separate from real danger—can maintain anxiety. Once anxiety starts, it can sustain itself as the body and mind feed into each other: feeling anxious leads to anxious thoughts, and anxious thoughts reinforce anxious feelings. To break this cycle, both cognitive (top-down) and physical (bottom-up) approaches are needed to synchronize body and mind.

How Biology and Narratives Interact

Learning to Live with Anxiety

Dr. David Hanscom takes it a bit further, “We must learn to love anxiety.”

“With our language ability, we possess what I call ‘cognitive consciousness,’ which is the capacity to describe these sensations. Meaning is given to our feelings, generated by these neurochemical reactions that reflect danger and safety.”

“Realistically, we’re always on some degree of alert for trouble, and there can be an endless stream of repetitive unpleasant thoughts. We call them RUTs, which are repetitive, unpleasant thoughts. And with physiology, how your body functions, RUTs can affect every cell in your body.”

Accepting and Managing Anxiety

The paradox of anxiety is that, while it can be terrifying due to intense emotions and thoughts, it is not our enemy—it is part of our design and can even be a friend. The key is not to see anxiety as something to fight or eliminate, as this creates internal conflict and more anxiety. Instead, acknowledge its presence and work to reduce it by uniting body and mind. By listening to our bodies and adjusting our internal narratives, we can learn to live with occasional anxiety. If we resist, try to control, panic, or even push back against anxiety, we create an internal struggle that can take us into our darkest hours.