Sometimes we have conflicting feelings that we cannot explain. At home, at work and in personal life, everything seems to be fine, but something still haunts. Many are familiar with such a condition as anxiety. This is a vague feeling when you are waiting for something bad. Let us consider in more detail what kind of feeling it is, what are its causes, symptoms and whether it is normal to experience it.
What is meant by anxiety
If you look at various dictionaries, then you can find more than one definition of this condition. But they all give one explanation, only in different formulations. Here, for example, one of them: "Anxiety is a negatively colored state, a painful internal feeling of discomfort from uncertainty."
Such an emotion is often called a bad presentiment, an expectation of danger or disaster. But it can not always be real. For some people, anxiety arises unreasonably, like the fruit of a wild fantasy, although the experience is quite real. Unrest is more likely associated not with a specific threat, but with the possibility of its manifestation.
Anxiety causes horror, which is accompanied by rapid breathing, palpitations, increased pressure, nausea, dizziness and sweating. At such moments, a person becomes tense, restless, helpless and preoccupied. Constant excitement can even emotionally destroy from the inside out.
People in this state perceive circumstances as a threat and consider them potentially dangerous. In this, fear and anxiety are similar, but they still have differences.
How anxiety is different from fear
Fear is an emotional reaction to a real threat. That is, the subject of danger is. But the causes of anxiety are vague and uncertain. This means that the excitement arises from the possibility of a danger that may not exist at all. It is also associated with the difficulties of avoiding and overcoming this threat.
We give an example. The student did not prepare for the exam and is afraid of failure. This is fear, and it is well founded. But with a responsible student, an excellent student, a different situation. He knows the subject well and is sure that he will pass the exam, but he is still anxious and cannot explain why. You can often hear from such people: “What if I forget something,” “The examiner will ask something, but I won’t answer,” “I don’t know anything” - and other similar phrases about anxiety. Anxiety of this kind is simply groundless and not adequate to the current situation.
That is, experiencing fear, a person can clearly say what he is afraid of. But in the case of anxiety, it is impossible to pinpoint the cause of fear.
Symptoms of anxiety
What signs can indicate unreasonable anxiety in the soul?
It:
- cardiopalmus;
- lack of air;
- sense of jitters;
- stiffness, tension in the muscles;
- chills, heavy sweating;
- pain in the head and other parts of the body;
- depressed mood;
- impaired appetite;
- intermittent sleep;
- lack of interest in activities.
The logical outcome of this condition is a deterioration in appearance, depression, or a psychosomatic illness. Of course, with constant excitement, the quality of life itself will deteriorate.
Causes of anxiety
Although the anxiety state does not have a subject of experience, let us try to figure out its possible causes. So, a person may feel unreasonable excitement in several cases.
1. Experience of the past. A person is afraid of the repetition of negative events that have already occurred to him. For example, a woman was once cheated, and she expects the same act from other men.
2. Projecting someone else’s experience. It is human nature to be afraid of troubles that occurred not with him, but with other people. For example, a man crashed in a car, and his colleague begins to carefully control the car. In the case of a plane crash, people generally begin to return tickets for other flights. That is, a person is worried that the same thing can happen to him as to others.
3. The return of the boomerang. A person is worried that they will do the same to him as he did to others. For example, the thief has anxiety, excitement that he might be robbed, and the unfaithful husband is constantly trying to convict his wife of treason.
4. Excessive suspiciousness. People constantly asking themselves the question: “What if?” - just overly anxious and suspicious. They like to think of problems for themselves from nothing. They think that they are all deceived, betrayed, they are always in danger, and it’s scary to let a child out of the house.
5. Excessive sensitivity. People tend to be afraid of fictional events that have occurred with others. It's about the feelings that arise after watching thrillers, horror films and detective stories. A person understands that cinema from beginning to end is a fiction, and there have never been heroes and terrible incidents in reality. Despite this, many people after such films cannot sleep for a long time, they are afraid of the dark and any extraneous sounds.
Is anxiety normal?
From time to time we get very worried. It can act as an adaptive feeling or a natural reaction to external changes. Such experiences are related to a real life situation or an upcoming event. For example, one of the relatives is in the hospital, after a few days you need to take an exam, a first date with the person you like, and so on. Adaptive anxiety disappears when these situations are successfully resolved.
In other words, we can say that such a feeling is quite normal and natural for any healthy person. It is not permanent, passes over time and is episodic in nature. Moreover, adaptive anxiety is simply necessary to mobilize the mental and physical capabilities of a person.
We are all living creatures, and it is natural for us to worry when there is not enough information, there are some doubts, a reason for tension and negative foreboding. Anxiety in the soul of this nature warns of danger without disturbing the process of life.
Pathological anxiety
If negative feelings last long enough or situations have ended, and bad feelings have remained or new ones have appeared out of nowhere, then this is an occasion to think that something is wrong in life. Such anxiety is called pathological anxiety. It is not associated with real danger, but it can significantly spoil the usual course of a person’s life.
Severe unreasonable excitement can result from a mental disorder or illness. A man invents danger, he is seized with a sense of horror before uncertainty. Constant anxiety takes control of emotions and paralyzes the will, so you need to fight it.
Who is more prone to anxiety?
According to statistics, women aged 20 to 30 years most often suffer from unreasonable strong excitement. There is also information about the inheritance of such a state, that is, about the transfer from one generation to another. Anxious parents usually have anxious children. Adults make it clear that the world is extremely dangerous and aggressive, and literally infect their child with psychasthenia. Also, a high level of anxiety is observed in dysfunctional (dysfunctional) families.
How does anxiety interfere in life?
Constant and very pronounced tension prevents a person from concentrating on what is really important. He constantly thinks about the same thing, again and again scrolls through threatening situations in his head, repeatedly reliving them anew. Persistent and intense anxiety can lead to depression and exhaustion of mental strength. Often, on such an emotional background, suicidal attempts occur.
Too restless people are usually vulnerable, suspicious, indecisive, touchy and insecure. They also make high demands on themselves, are insanely afraid of failures and are sensitive to criticism. Such people simply limit their potential and because of fears do not do much of what they could do.
Without a doubt, constant excitement destructively affects our health. Everything that sits in the head begins to gradually pass into the body. So psychosomatic diseases appear.
As you know, thoughts are material. Therefore, anxious people, constantly thinking about the negative, simply attract unhappiness. Moreover, they reluctantly program the troubles of their near and dear ones. Unconsciously, parents give negative attitudes with the help of sayings such as “Be careful you fall,” “Don't touch, cut yourself,” “Nobody will marry you,” and so on.
In this context, anxiety is a destructive emotion, and it needs to be urgently disposed of.
How to deal with anxiety?
The most important thing is to turn anxiety into fear. That is, you need to try to determine what exactly you are afraid of, so that later, as they say, meet this face to face. To do this, a very large and serious work needs to be done. As a rule, one cannot do without a specialist who can offer competent help. For one case, medication is suitable, for another - psychotherapy.
If you want to take a fresh look at your behavior and positively perceive the causes of concern, then immediately begin to change. Like all emotions, anxiety is subject to our consciousness.