Contents
Anxiety: six questions with answers to understand what is happening to the mind
Psychology
Yolanda Morant, psychiatrist, sexologist and couples therapist, reveals the signs that indicate that we are suffering from this disorder
Of the last ten conversations that I have had with people both professional and personal, six of them confessed to feeling “strange”, “fearful”, “anxious”, “nervous” or with a certain “anguish”. The concept “anxiety” hovers over these oddities, fears, nervousness or cravings (maybe you can do the test in your environment to see if you get a better or worse balance) and Google searches for the word “anxiety” skyrocketed in the middle of March, they remained at high but stable levels during the summer and since the end of October they seem to have started a new climb.
Anxiety, therefore, seems to concern us as a concept and in a generalized way, although we may not know or are not aware of what exactly it means to suffer from this disorder. We decipher the keys around anxiety with the help of Yolanda Morant, psychiatrist, sexologist and couples therapist, who answers six questions that arise in these days of pandemic.
1. What is anxiety?
La anxiety It is a physical, emotional and behavioral reaction that gives us information about the existence of a change in the environment or in the circumstances that can put peligro our physical or mental integrity. That is, the compendium of sensations and / or symptoms that we may present serve to prepare us for change or adversity, either through fight or through flight.
However, when what we believe can alter our well-being does not really exist, that is, it is a supposed or imagined fear; Either our symptoms are of excessively high intensity, instead of preparing us for change in an evolutionary way, we blocks, preventing us from using our compendium of adaptive tools to face the problem.
Ultimately, anxiety is equivalent to fear, but before something or someone that is not real, or at least should not cause us such uneasiness. By not being real and by not being able to “control” it, we are deprived of defensive strategies decisive, generating in us a self-perception of low sufficiency and capacity.
2. Are there different types of anxiety?
Not quite. We have already defined that anxiety is a psychophysiological reaction, but we could say that it can present itself in several ways.
Some people have anxiety in the form of a “crisis” in the face of specific situations or objects, and this is what we know as «Specific Phobias».
At other times anxiety presents itself as a feeling of inner restlessness that remains inside the body all day and that also leads us to be continually worried about anything that may happen, but without it being any specific concern. This is known as “Generalized Anxiety Disorder.” In this case, the most obvious component is the cognitive or ruminant.
It may happen that we suffer Repetitive anxiety “crises”, which appear and disappear for no apparent reason. This is what we call “Panic Disorder” or “Episodic Paroxysmal Anxiety.” This form of presentation is one of the most disabling, since there is no factor that the person can identify as a trigger for the crisis, so those who suffer from it limit their activities for fear of suffering a crisis in any circumstance. We call this “Anticipatory Anxiety.”
As we can see, although this is not always the case, the “anxiety crisis” is one of the fundamental elements of these disorders. Having an anxiety crisis is a very unpleasant situation since the Perceived physical sensation is of “imminent death”, the fundamental component being the physical one.
3. How do I know if I am experiencing an anxiety episode?
As we have already advanced, in anxiety there are three components that are not always easy to differentiate:
El physical component refers to all the symptoms perceived in the body: sweating, tachycardia (“the heart is racing or seems to explode”), shortness of breath, dizziness, tremors, etc.
El cognitive component refers to all those beliefs or thoughts that appear repeatedly and that add us to a feeling of internal restlessness, such as: thinking that we are going to suffer a heart attack, believing that we are going to go crazy, being afraid of fainting, etc.
El behavioral component refers to the attitude we take in the face of these sensations, which is usually the avoidance or flight from all those situations that we relate to what may cause us discomfort.
What we do know today is that such an anxiety “crisis” appears, later and without doing anything it disappears, that is, it is self-limited whether or not we administer treatment. However, we cannot forget that the moment of greatest clinical expression is very distressing and generates a lot of discomfort, both to those who suffer it and to those who are by their side.
Therefore, it is essential to include the psychoeducation in the treatment of it: explain what a crisis is, how and why it appears, what we are going to feel and what we can do about it, so that progressively the patient is aware of Physical and emotional “signals” that indicate that a crisis may appear in order to manage it more effectively, thus providing greater security and capacity for handling it and for self-regulation.
4. When should anxiety episodes be a concern?
All emotions give us information about the context that we are living or about what we may need to adapt to the requirements of the context, so, in general, it is healthy and necessary to have this information to modulate and adapt our response to the situation that arises. introduce us.
However, there will be contexts that surpass us due to the emotional charge that involve (for example, unexpected news such as loss) or because at that time other areas of our life require our full attention and we are less prepared to face it and our coping strategies they are “low battery.”
When we feel blocked, dull, with difficulties managing these situations, let us realize it (being aware is perhaps the most complex part because it implies recognizing a vulnerability) and request Professional Help (Although it entails exposing our fragility to others). In any case, let us remember that it is not about “not being capable”, “not being strong enough” or “being weak”; rather, in those moments we need an external support, a support that helps us reduce levels of anguish to be able to unearth or learn tools and face the stressful situation.
5. Are there more cases of anxiety in the current context?
There is clearly an increase in anxiety in the context of the current pandemic. However, it can be considered congruent and appropriate to the context. Remember that anxiety is the psychophysiological reaction equivalent to fear, and what it informs us is that there is “something” that endangers our feelings. integrity y supervivencia, allowing us to be in alert to defend ourselves from that danger.
La pandemic It has put us in check, it has shown us our vulnerability as living beings and therefore it has once again uncovered our defenselessness. Hence, fear and anxiety are awakened, because we are faced with something that is still a unknown, which gives rise to the uncertainty, and our body and mind prepare for it. However we cannot forget that the mismanaged fear It stops being adaptive to block us, making it impossible to address the situation we have to face.
6. How can we help someone with anxiety?
It is very common to hear phrases such as “do not worry”, “you will pass”, “sure it will solve itself”, “do not get like that”. They are phrases that help little because the messages that we return to the person who suffers are very disabling. These messages are:
1) What you are feeling is not so important.
2) What they are feeling is excesivo Given the situation.
3) That which you are feeling you shouldn’t feel it.
The point is that no one can say whether or not what another person feels is appropriate to the situation, since emotions are unique to each one.
When a person suffers from anxiety they only need us to be present, that we perform that support function and that we return that look of understanding. Most of the time you don’t need to say or do anything, just estar. Once the episode of anguishYes, we can offer you to look for alternatives and professional help in order to be able to solve what torments you or that terrifies us and thus be able to work on anxiety.
If what we have to do is help ourselves, we will have to do something similar, although it is more complex. The most important thing will be to “realize”, that is, to become aware that we are in a situation of fragility and that a support for these stones along the way will be of great help.