Why Do We Experience Anxious Symptoms?
Let’s do a little experiment. Take a second to measure your heart rate and notice your breath.
Now, I want you to think back to your most uncomfortable moment with anxiety. Maybe you were laying in bed and had a panic attack. You were short of breath, intensely nauseated, and felt like you were going crazy. Or maybe it was in class. You were listening to your professor or taking a test when suddenly your heart rate shot up, or you felt a lump in your throat. Then came that familiar closing-in feeling, like you had to run away somewhere, even though you knew this feeling would follow you no matter where you went.
Quickly measure your heart rate again and check on your breathing. If you’re anything like me, you’ve now got a tight chest and a rapid heartbeat, even though you weren’t consciously telling yourself to breathe faster.
So what happened? Some subconscious decision to breathe more quickly? A mental trick?
As it turns out, the answer is not a question of psychology but one of biology. The behavior you just engaged in - recalling and choosing to further consider an uncomfortable memory - signaled to the rest of your brain to go into fight or flight, producing adrenaline. This caused a tangible, physical change in your body. Even though this behavior is invisible and doesn’t involve any movement, it has very visible consequences.
To end off the experiment, ask yourself how many times a day you engage in this kind of behavior. If you are like I was, the answer is “enough to cause these kinds of symptoms really frequently… and enough that I’d rather not think about it.”
And yet, when we visit our doctor or our therapist to explore why we experience uncomfortable anxious symptoms like we just did, this is never brought up. Our physical state is treated as an uncontrollable genetic or neurochemical problem, and our mental state is treated as an environmental problem. Both miss the mark because neither is able to put their finger on the true culprit: behaviors like this one.
This idea was what jump started my exploration into anxiety and eventually formed the centerpiece of my book. For those of you looking to think more about the interplay between behavior and symptoms, I’d like to leave you with some questions to consider:
Are there any more “invisible” behaviors we do that cause physical changes?
To what extent do these behaviors affect the symptoms we feel?
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For now, I wish you luck on your journey and hope you have a speedy recovery.