Stop Anxiety from Stopping You: The Breakthrough Program For Conquering Panic and Social Anxiety(5)

What Causes Anxiety?

We have some good ideas about what causes anxiety, and I will now share what the scientific community believes on this topic. The primary components of what contributes to the development of an anxiety disorder or panic disorder are: biology, learning, and stressors such as traumatic events.

There is a biological component to anxiety, and we know that some people are born with a more anxious temperament. This means that some people are more prone or sensitive to experiencing anxiety or responding with anxiety to a stressful situation or life event.

We also know that anxiety has a learned component. Learning theory suggests that anxiety can be acquired through learning and making associations between certain non-dangerous situations and anxious responses. This means that if we witness another person’s anxious response, we may learn that that response is necessary. Children, in particular, learn about danger and safety from their surroundings. What this means is that if you had an anxious parent or caregiver, you may have inherited the predisposition to be anxious, and you may have also learned some responses that triggered anxiety in the absence of danger.

This may include behavioral and cognitive learning. Behavioral learning is learning about how to act in a certain situation. It may include learning to avoid situations that are anxietyprovoking. Cognitive learning is about how we think and assess a situation. It may include labeling certain situations as “dangerous” instead of “anxietyprovoking” or “uncomfortable.” It also can prime our development of beliefs that not only is our world dangerous, but that our capacity to respond to that danger is inadequate or insufficient.

Trauma is also linked to developing anxiety. In particular, surviving or witnessing a traumatic event in childhood has been linked to changes in the brain and the likelihood of developing an anxiety disorder later in life. What we define as trauma varies, and can range from being bitten by a puppy to surviving a war. We also know that these events do not automatically result in anxiety disorders and are not destiny; they just increase the probability of a person developing an anxiety disorder.

In my clinical practice, the biggest unspoken question that I encounter is, “What did I do to get anxiety or panic?” It may not sound logical, and it is not. However, I find it is universally useful to dispel the myth that you did something to “catch” or “deserve” having panic or anxiety. To be perfectly clear, there is nothing that you did, and you are not to blame for experiencing panic or strong anxiety, PERIOD. You are only responsible for how you choose to respond to it today. As the great George Bernard Shaw said, “We are made wise not by the recollection of our past, but by the responsibility for our future.”





PART 2:





BEGINNING YOUR

PROGRAM TO MANAGE PANIC AND ANXIETY




    “Without effort and willingness to experience pain

and anxiety, nobody grows, in fact nobody achieves

anything worth achieving.” —Erich Fromm





    “The difference between try and triumph is

a little ‘umph.’” —Marvin Phillips





CHAPTER III.





The U.N.L.O.C.K. System




In Part One of this book we went over the basics of panic and anxiety. Now that you are familiar with both, we will go through the thinking processes involved, including panic and anxiety beliefs and the way they influence your thinking. We will also be introduced to the steps you will need to take in order to manage panic and social anxiety.

Sitting on the couch in my office, Jane looked forlorn. The anxiety she was describing seemed overwhelming to her, and she felt paralyzed to do anything about it. Her life had become a series of safe routines designed to avoid anxiety. She had changed jobs so that she could be closer to home. She barely left the house, other than to go to work or run an occasional errand. Worst of all, she felt like she was perpetually in a state of dread, waiting for another anxiety attack. She looked frightened, and felt that anxiety had chained her to a life she did not want.

What Jane wanted was the key to getting better. What she needed was to unlock her power so that she could live her life, decide her direction, and exercise her freedom.

The U.N.L.O.C.K. System does just that. Through a series of exercises, I propose a framework to free yourself from the shackles of panic and anxiety and to unlock your life, your potential, and your emotional freedom. Now that you have a good understanding of both panic and anxiety, let’s go over the U.N.L.O.C.K. system to begin your journey to overcoming panic and anxiety.

Step 1. Understand

The first step involves understanding anxiety and panic symptoms and their cycle. Next, we dismantle myths about panic and anxiety. Finally, we look at how we unintentionally increase our anxiety through our various attempts to control it. Understanding anxiety allows you to approach your treatment from a place of knowledge rather than fear. It includes building awareness about your symptoms and how to address them. Armed with this knowledge, you will be better able to gauge which attempts at anxiety reduction work and which make it worse. In my consultation room, often the first time that I see relief on a client’s face is when they come to understand their symptoms.

I will always remember my session with Joe; he was visibly nervous after having been referred to a therapist following two visits to the emergency room. Both visits were prompted by a feeling that he was about to have a heart attack – but after thorough physical examinations, each lasting several hours, he was medically cleared and told he was having panic attacks. Let me be clear, that is all Joe was told. He was then referred to a therapist and that is how he found himself sitting in front of me, not really sure what a panic attack was. I would love to say that Joe’s story is an exception – it is not. Emergency rooms are busy places, and many people leave with no information about what their symptoms mean. As soon as I took some time to explain to Joe exactly what was happening to his body when he was having a panic attack, he became visibly relaxed. This understanding alone led him to feel much better about his situation and reduced his stress level immensely.