Anxiety for many is often something to be avoided or prevented from happening. Anxiety can rise up over a variety of issues including finances, a job, school, or being in a social setting. In some cases anxiety strikes without warning and some may find themselves unable to function. Hearts pound, hands shake, and other symptoms occur which can cause the body to feel out of control. Going to the doctor may prove fruitless due to getting an explanation of the symptoms simply being a panic attack. Maybe the anxiety attacks occur over and over and soon there is a fear of the attack itself occurring. So at this point one may ask what am I to do? Well before getting to the answer, it is helpful to understand how anxiety attacks affect our body as well as why methods to stop it do not work.
When an anxiety attack occurs it activates what is called the sympathetic nervous system or SNS. Basically this is the part of our bodies that would respond to an emergency type of situation.
For example if someone is crossing the street and a car is about to hit them, their SNS allows them to jump out of the way. Another example may be if someone is attacked by another their SNS would give them the adrenaline to run away from the attacker. Obviously the SNS is very helpful in protecting us from danger. Problems occur however if our SNS reacts to an anxiety attack versus a real threat. This is because our body is preparing itself for danger when no danger is actually there making it very difficult to deal with the normal stresses of life.
Due to the anxiety attack occurring it may be natural for someone to try to calm themselves down maybe by trying to breathe, reasoning with their thoughts, or even through distraction. Unfortunately when this is done it usually does not work and the anxiety gets worse and worse. This is because by attempting to calm or distract, this tells the body there’s something wrong when in fact there is nothing wrong and keeps the body in an anxious state. Think of it like a mosquito bite. Whenever you get bitten by a mosquito your first inclination is to scratch that itch. If you do this continually however this causes the bite to spread to the rest of your arm making it worse than it was before. Since this is the case the only way to deal with an anxiety attack ‘in the moment’ is to simply let it happen.
While this may sound counter intuitive, by actually leaning into the attack we are telling our bodies there is nothing wrong. The SNS reacts to our attempt to calm down during the attack but if we actually let the attack run its course it will go away on its own. The more this is practiced the more one realizes that they can actually handle the symptoms of the attack! Over time you will eventually stop anticipating that an anxiety attack will occur. Practically how this works is when the attack happens instead of trying to calm down just notice the symptoms of the attack and let the symptoms run its course. It is kind of like riding a rollercoaster. Once the ride begins there is no getting off of it and even if you hate rollercoasters the ride will end eventually.
By no means is this easy to do, however with practice and support from others you’ll find you have capacity to experience the anxiety and will not be as afraid of it as you have been in the past. It is important to get professional help to better manage anxiety and panic attacks however leaning into anxiety attacks can be a possible way to overcome the crippling nature of your anxiety.
(Information was adapted from Dr. Becky Beaton-York, theknowledgetree.org Exposure Response Prevention training course)
