Demystifying Anxiety Part 1: What is Anxiety?

Anxiety, it’s the most searched term on the British counselling directory and may well be the most common form of distress in our post pandemic world. At the same time, there’s a lot of confusion, misinformation, and sometimes stigma around the term.

So what is anxiety? Is it a disorder of the mind? A chemical imbalance? Does it mean there’s something wrong with you? Is it just another word for fear? Or is it something else? 

Let’s start with the most important parts first. Experiencing anxiety does not mean there’s anything wrong with you. Anxiety is also not a result of a genetic chemical imbalance. While there is evidence that genetics can predispose someone to be a bit more highly strung or nervous, this doesn’t mean that experiencing anxiety will be inevitable, or that one cannot move out of anxiety if it does occur.

So what is it?

Anxiety is used in a number of ways in day to day speech, but in practical psychological terms, anxiety is a state of experience that is the result of a certain approach to the feeling of fear. That might be confusing at first. So let’s explain. 

Fear vs. anxiety

Fear is a spectrum of emotions that share the same purpose, they drive a person to avoid, escape, or prevent a perceived danger of some kind. Fear can range wildly from mild worry to absolute terror and panic. It can be expressed in a number of ways.

Fear is a spectrum of feelings that share a common purpose

Is fear bad?

We’re often told to conquer our fear, to repress it, that to be fearless is an admirable and achievable goal to reach in our society, so is fear a bad feeling to have? Or are these messages we get from society misguided?

No bad feelings

Fear, like all feelings, serves a purpose. When fear is accurate to the situation and responded to appropriately, it’s a useful emotion. It stops you dying, getting hurt, and can teach valuable lessons. The first time you step out into the street without looking and almost get run over, you’re likely to remember to look both ways next time.

This doesn’t mean it’s a pleasant emotion to experience. The feeling of fear can be very physically and mentally unpleasant, at its worst, fear can be such an unpleasant experience that it can be mistaken for a heart attack or other serious medical event. On the other hand, the feeling of an ‘adrenaline rush’ that comes with certain forms of fear can be pleasurable enough that people actively seek it out.

The problem comes when fear isn’t accurate to the situation at hand, or when our strategies for dealing with it lead to problems in our lives. This is where anxiety comes in.

Anxiety as a habit, not a feeling.

Anxiety is the result of applying strategies to one’s fear that give short term benefit at a long term cost. We lower feelings of fear in the moment, but over time, begin to feel fear more often and more intensely. Usually, this comes about because we try to get rid of the fear in the moment, without directly addressing the beliefs, perceptions or situation driving the fear. We fear the fear so much that we form habits to try and escape it, and when those habits backfire, we get locked into a cycle. The good news is that we can break out of this cycle. Once we understand what we’re doing and why, we can feel empowered to choose more helpful strategies and move out of the cycle of anxiety.

Next week, we’ll delve into the habit loop of anxiety and fear. The ways it can start, why it continues, and the first steps of what can be done about it.