There are many reasons why people have anxiety. One of them is worry. Worrying is there for a purpose – it’s there to make us think things through so we are prepared to tackle the bad things that life throws at us. However, it is easy to worry to excess.
Worry happens when we imagine something bad is going to occur. We start to imagine all the possible things that could go wrong. The reason humans have this ability is because when you can imagine something going wrong, you can imagine what to do about it if it does. Then you can prepare for it.
The trouble is that worrying can backfire on us in a number of ways – ways that lead to anxiety:
- Worrying about the same thing over and over again
- Worrying about something that is very unlikely to happen
- Worrying about things that we can’t do anything about and cannot prepare for
- Catastrophising – worrying about things getting bad, then worse, and then worse than that
Worry Can Lead to Anxiety
The problem is that the primitive part of our brain hasn’t caught up with the intelligent part. The primitive part of our brain (the limbic system) is very simple and is all about survival. It contains the basic functions that most mammals have – including fight-or-flight. It does not understand that we have also got a highly intelligent cortex surrounding it that is capable of imagining things.
So when we worry, we imaging things going wrong and the fight-or-flight centre triggers into action. It is as if it assumes that things are going wrong right now. It’s reaction is to create anxiety, because anxiety is the thing that makes us be hyper-aware of danger.
Anxiety Can Lead to Worry
When we feel anxiety, our thinking process starts to focus on possible danger. It is a survival mechanism used to protect us when there may be something life-threatening. It was very useful in days-gone-by when the world was a more dangerous place. Most of the world is relatively safe these days, and so the feeling of anxiety is less useful.
But when we do feel anxious, our imagination is drawn towards the things that could go wrong – that is, we start to worry about the problems that may (or may not) occur.
The Vicious Circle
So worry can lead to anxiety and anxiety can lead to worry, and so the cycle continues. We need a way to break the vicious circle, which will enable us to calm down. I will leave you to explore other articles in my blog to find suggestions.
And Finally …
If you find yourself unable to break the worry-anxiety vicious circle on your own, or your anxiety manifests itself in a different way, you might consider hypnotherapy. I help people who are only just coping with anxiety from my hypnotherapy clinic in Fleet, Hampshire, as well as online. Contact me if you want a chat to see how I might help.
Photo by Johannes Plenio on Pexels