Skip to content

Anxiety self help in 3 little steps


Reading Time: 4 minutes

1)Step one – Understand Anxiety

Anxiety is the body’s way of responding to perceived threats.  The key word here is “perceived”. Fear is the response to an existent/real threat. All of us have gone through anxiety at some time during our lives. Some of us get more anxious than others and for some of us, anxiety becomes debilitating and severe.

In this short article, we will learn about the cognitive behavioral model of anxiety and how it can help one overcome even the worst anxiety.

Anxiety self help

The biology of anxiety – Imagine you are being followed by two people wielding a knife. Your brain tells your body that you are in danger and the body reacts by releasing a neurotransmitter(adrenaline and noradrenaline) that will aid you in either fighting or in running away.

Under the influence of adrenaline –

  1. Thoughts begin to race – to help find a quick strategy to deal with the threat.
  2. Blood is routed to your muscles and skin and heart beats faster to keep up – To either run or rumble. You may begin to tremble, feel weak at the knees and sweat a lot.
  3. The eyes widen – So that you can see more.
  4. You breathe faster to keep up with body’s oxygen demand.
  5. The changes in circulation lead to tingling, goose flesh and a number of physical sensations. Dizziness is also a very common manifestation of anxiety.

The body reacts similarly when faced with real and imagined threats. Thus, the fear response that occurs during public speaking is almost the same as the one that occurs when one is chased by a pack of wolves.

Continued on page 2 . . .

Pages: 1 2 3