Anxiety will preach for its own existence! Are you with us?
Seriously, it is a cycle, and if you let it have the stage, it will never exit stage left or stage right.
Ok, could you stick with us? We need to explain. In theater, “exit stage right” is a clear direction to leave the stage, and “exit stage left” means that your departure should be orderly, uneventful, and not cause distraction or detract from purpose.
We are entertaining this terminology because this is another way to explain the anxiety cycle, and it has helped us!
We have an anxiety trigger (aka a script) that happens over and over again. It becomes a part of our reacting brain—where our emotions and memories are stored (aka our script). When we have entered this stage of the cycle, we experience flight, fight, or freeze response—these are physical sensations (when acting, physical sensations are great messengers). These responses lead to our cognitive functions and then behavioral actions. When talking about anxiety—cognitively, we experience fear-based thoughts. Behaviorally we commonly see an attempt to escape, avoid, look for danger, or fearfully fight the anxiety. In a playwright, our cognitive and behavioral abilities look very different from anxiety, and they allow us to carry out a show!
When we talk about how anxiety gets triggered and maintained, this is not the show we are looking to put on.
Our thinking brain is responsible for our planning and executing functions. It does not typically work well with our reacting brain, so it becomes challenging to “exit stage right,” which is to stop this cycle, and almost impossible to “exit stage left,” which is to end this cycle with no detracting or distracting. Ending this cycle tends to be the opposite of orderly and uneventful.
We are here to share that anxiety and worry are normal, unavoidable reactions to stressful experiences. It can be difficult to gain confidence in these moments and have a sense of safety and security, which is frightening and can add to these reactions’ symptoms and experiences. The first step to mediating anxiety is to identify if it is merely a normal human reaction or if it has become a prolonged intense occurrence that is interfering with our ability to lead a satisfying, productive, and healthy life. The types of anxiety we could be experiencing are listed below. Identifying which one we are experiencing can help with finding treatment.
Each link listed below the types of anxiety provides more information on what options and forms of treatment are available.
Types of anxiety: Generalized Anxiety Disorder Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Panic Attacks and Panic Disorder Phobias Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Social Anxiety Disorder
Generalized Anxiety Disorder “Occurs when you feel worried and stressed about many everyday events and activities. Often the things you are worried about are small or not important. This type of worry disrupts your life most days. Everyone gets worried or anxious sometimes. But people with generalized anxiety disorder experience more than normal everyday worries.”
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) “Is a type of mental illness that causes repeated unwanted thoughts. To get rid of the thoughts, a person with OCD may also do the same tasks over and over. For example, you may fear that everything you touch has germs on it. So to ease that fear, you wash your hands over and over again.”
Panic Attacks and Panic Disorder “A panic attack is a sudden, intense fear or anxiety that may make you short of breath or dizzy or make your heart pound. You may feel out of control. Some people believe that they are having a heart attack or are about to die. An attack usually lasts from 5 to 20 minutes. But it may last even longer, up to a few hours. You have the most anxiety about 10 minutes after the attack starts. If these attacks happen often, they are called a panic disorder.”
Phobias “Having a phobia means you are extremely afraid of a specific object, situation, or activity. Having a phobia about something is very different from everyday worry or stress. For example, most people feel worry and stress at some time, such as when speaking in front of a large group of people. People with phobias have so much fear that it’s hard to do normal activities, such as going to work.
Having a phobia includes feeling stressed about being near the object, being in the situation, or doing the activity. It also includes being afraid of the object, situation, or activity itself. People with phobias avoid what they are afraid of so they won’t feel worried and stressed.”
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder “Can occur after you have been through a traumatic event. A traumatic event is something horrible and scary that you see or that happens to you. During this type of event, you think that your life or others’ lives are in danger. You may feel afraid or feel that you have no control over what is happening.
Anyone who has gone through a life-threatening event can develop PTSD. But people don’t always have to see a traumatic event or have it happen to them to get PTSD. Sometimes learning that a traumatic event happened to a loved one can cause PTSD.”
Social Anxiety Disorder “People with social anxiety disorder (or social phobia) are extremely anxious about what they will say or do in front of other people. This includes public speaking and day-to-day social situations. But it is more than just being shy or nervous before public speaking. The fear can begin weeks or months before an event. It can cause a fast heartbeat and make it hard to focus.
Some people fear only one or a few types of social situations. For other people, many situations cause stress. This problem affects your daily life. You may be so stressed or afraid that you avoid public situations, including missing work and school.”
