Few experiences are as universal — or as exhausting — as fear and worry. A little anxiety is part of being human and even keeps us safe. But when fear becomes frequent, intense or out of proportion to what is actually happening, it can quietly take over daily life. The good news is that anxiety is one of the most treatable concerns in all of mental health, and a skilled counselor can help you regain your footing.
Fears and Anxiety
When you are confronted with a threat and feel fear, your body mobilizes to cope. Hormones like adrenaline and cortisol flow through your bloodstream, your muscles tense for action, and your senses become more alert. A useful way to tell the two apart is to think of fear as the emotional response to a threat happening in the moment, and anxiety as the response to dangers you imagine might occur in the future.
There are many sources of real and perceived danger, and many ways that problematic fear and anxiety can show up. One example is the panic attack: for no apparent external reason, the heart starts pounding, the muscles contract, and a person becomes overwhelmed with feeling. Another is the phobia — a strong, persistent fear of a specific thing or situation. Common phobias include fear of spiders, air travel, open spaces, public speaking, or germs.
Anxiety itself is frequent worry or apprehensive expectation that is difficult to control. The specific worries may change from week to week, but the worrying continues much of the time. It can interfere with sleep and concentration, and it often leaves the body tense and fatigued.
The antidote to fear and anxiety involves regaining your perspective on reality. A professional counselor helps you do exactly that — restoring perspective and reducing fear and anxiety within a context of safety and support. The National Institute of Mental Health notes that anxiety disorders are among the most common and most treatable mental-health conditions.
Chronic Worry and Stress
When you do not feel confident in your ability to cope with events and situations, difficult feelings arise — helplessness, anger, frustration and grief among them. Under the impact of these stressors, the body tenses, the heart rate climbs, hormones flow, and you find yourself saying, "I'm stressed out." Stress even affects the immune system over time.
Easing stress means doing something about that physical reaction. It can mean taking a walk around the block, gardening, going away for a weekend, practicing yoga or meditation, jogging — anything that helps the body dissipate the tension. It also means taking action to resolve the stressor whenever possible, and learning to let go when there is, in reality, nothing more to be done.
The Cycle of Worry
One way to look at worry is as the mind's reaction to a sense of helplessness. You find yourself plagued by repetitive thoughts about what might happen, why things are the way they are, how you behaved, what you are going to do, what you said and what you will say — on and on. Worry is an ineffective way of trying to soothe yourself. Being caught in it is like being trapped in a movie theater with the same bad film playing over and over.
One way to end the rumination is to let yourself genuinely feel the emotions — difficult as they may be — that are driving the mental static. Sharing your stress and worries with a trained professional helps them abate. Therapy also helps you build new, healthier ways to self-soothe, relax and manage stress so that fear no longer runs the show.
Finding Support
If anxiety, worry or stress has been wearing you down, you do not have to manage it alone. Our network includes therapists experienced with anxiety in all its forms. You may also want to read about closely related concerns such as anger management and work stress or social anxiety, or return to the full list of therapy specialties. When you are ready, get in touch through our contact form.