Defining Anxiety

It seems straightforward—anxiety. The poster child of mental illness. It is talked about all the time, but not necessarily in the way that recognizes the severity of the issue. Misunderstood, anxiety is surrounded by stigma, repeatedly joked about, and used in the wrong context. Everyone has heard of anxiety, but do they even recognize if they themselves are suffering from the disorder? A lot of the time, the answer is no. The misinformation and reputation of anxiety leaves those struggling with it ignoring or misidentifying the symptoms they are experiencing. Sneaky little bastard. Understanding anxiety is the first step to overcoming the disorder. Ensuring you learn the basics of anxiety, this first chapter will help you interpret how anxiety works and why you may be experiencing it in your life.

What is Anxiety?

You may be wondering, what is anxiety? We’ve already established that you have some experience, but it is different for everyone. For me, anxiety is that gut-wrenching pit of uncertainty in my stomach. That one intrusive thought repeating in the back of my head. It is worrying about something I can’t even grasp. To be frank—it’s a bitch. There is a wide scale of severity and symptoms in which anxiety inhabits your body and mind. Which is part of the reason it is hard for people to register that they live with this feeling every day.

In its most basic definition, anxiety is that worried feeling you get when you are in a state of stress. So, what’s the difference between feeling stressed and having an anxiety disorder? According to Sheryl Ankrom, MS, LCPC, it comes down to two things; how often you are experiencing it, and the causation of your anxiety. Let’s say you were about to give a big presentation and start feeling those butterflies in your stomach, this would be considered stress. However, if you are losing sleep from overanalyzing your performance a whole week later, this would be considered anxiety. Or in my case, a sucker-punch of unwarranted worry while quietly waiting at the grocery checkout, probably anxiety.

The unnecessary continuation of stress is what turns into anxiety. Ankrom States, “problem anxiety… tends to be chronic and irrational, and it interferes with many life functions... problem anxiety may lead to or reflect an anxiety disorder”. Next time you catch yourself biting your nails because your mind went to the worst-case scenario, take note of it. It is important to recognize the different levels of anxiety, especially when they

seem out of control. Too much of it for a continuation of time can lead to living with the disorder.

No need to start freaking out if this hit a little too close to home. Anxiety is completely normal and actually can be considered fundamental because it protects us from the dangers that surround us (Ankrom). However, as explained by the author of the book Owning It, Caroline Foran, we don’t live in the Stone Age anymore, constantly surrounded by the threat of a wild animal attacking us. Yet our brains still function similarly to how they did back when we were hunters and gatherers (19-21). Which explains why our brains still throw up that big red flag at the sudden bang of a door being closed too abruptly.

We are wired to stay on edge. This is known as the “Fight or Flight” response. I don’t want to confuse you, so I am going to break this technical part down the best I can. Anxiety has a direct link to your nervous system, which can be broken into the sympathetic and parasympathetic. When your brain perceives a “dangerous” moment (rational or irrational) it sends signals to your sympathetic nervous system which responds by releasing stress hormones such as adrenaline and cortisol (“Understanding the Stress Response”). These hormones will, essentially, allow you to go into superhuman mode and fight or flee from “danger.” Even if your brains’ idea of a “dangerous threat” might just be facing a snarky teenage grocery clerk.

The problem here is that your parasympathetic nervous system, also referred to as “Rest and Digest,” is not important at all in the face of danger. Meaning that your body does not give it any attention if your brain is still on high alert (“Understanding the Stress Response”). Facing a grizzly bear is not the time to go into a food coma. However, the parasympathetic system is very important to your body’s ability to function. If someone is chronically stressed their body won’t relax, meaning the parasympathetic nervous system won’t get back up and running. Because the parasympathetic system doesn’t get it’s time to shine, the constant stress can cause both short-term and longterm health issues (“Understanding the Stress Response”). This means that while anxiety is an important part of the way we function as people, it is not sustainable to our health to let our anxiety take control of our lives. Okay, we made it through the scary science part. That wasn’t too bad, right?

You don’t have to control your thoughts. You just have to stop letting them control you.

— Dan Millman

Development and Types of Anxiety

Anxiety has two extremes. There is either a very clear answer to why it’s looming in your body (grizzly bear) or no apparent indicator at all (grocery store). As someone who has been suffering from anxiety since I was a child, I don’t remember the specific moment it started. From the outside, my parents saw me as a perfect do-no-wrong angel. Okay, maybe that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but I was still pretty damn good. Anyway, the reality of the situation was that the idea of breaking the smallest rule made me want to crawl out of my skin. I was so quiet, my mom could take me with her to work as a toddler. Plus, I could not tolerate sleeping over at even my closest friend’s houses until about middle school (even then it was rough for me). You could say anxiety is just built into my personality. Which I recently discovered, is a real thing. Based on an article by Mina Brandes, MD, and Joseph Bienvenu, MD, Ph.D., certain personality types are more likely to develop an anxiety disorder (267). Personality is not the only factor though, as genetics, and life-events also play a big part in a person’s mental make-up.

There are two types of people who are most likely to develop an anxiety disorder: those who experience some sort of traumatic life incident and those who have anxiety-prone genetics or personalities (Shri 102-104). There doesn’t need to be a defining moment when someone’s anxiety starts. These different causations play into the various forms of anxiety.

A couple anxiety disorders people could develop include, generalized anxiety disorder (GAD), panic disorders, and phobia disorders (Shri 104-105). I myself suffer from a generalized anxiety disorder. Which can be boiled down to

anxiety caused by general stressors experienced in everyday life (“Generalized Anxiety Disorder”). Which explains my inability to leave the grocery store without doing at least one round of breathing exercises

However, someone doesn’t need to have a disorder to still be experiencing anxiety. Those who lead extremely busy and stressful lives are also known to commonly battle with this feeling, this is often known as high-functioning anxiety (Cuncic, “High Functioning Anxiety”). The most infamous example of people who might be suffering from this sort of anxiety would be college students. Unfortunately, with the set-up of schools today, anxiety is extremely common among students. With almost no breathing room between tests and projects, the daily continuation of stress makes students almost certain to experience constant worry (Shri 102). The workplace is another petri dish of stress. Especially, when people are working in fastpaced, deadline-driven jobs.