Everything you wanted to know about anxiety. Part 3: Rules for Anxious People

Summary

The web content discusses the nature of anxiety, its origins in human evolution, and outlines four main behavioral rules that anxious people tend to follow.

Abstract

The article, "Everything you wanted to know about anxiety. Part 3: Rules for Anxious People," emphasizes that high levels of anxiety are not an individual's fault but rather the result of ancient, ingrained survival mechanisms. It addresses common concerns about living with anxiety and the possibility of improvement, noting that progress can vary from a few months to a year, with some individuals managing through self-help and others requiring professional assistance. The piece delves into the shared origins and manifestations of various anxiety disorders, highlighting the brain's role in controlling anxiety through evolutionary behavioral instructions. These instructions are distilled into four key rules that govern anxious individuals' thoughts and behaviors, which are often the focus of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT).

Opinions

Anxiety is portrayed as a natural, albeit sometimes overly intense, response programmed by nature.
The article suggests that while anxiety is not a personal failing, individuals can take proactive steps to manage it, including using self-help resources or seeking professional help.
The author, identified as a CBT specialist, emphasizes the importance of understanding and modifying a client's thought patterns and beliefs to address anxiety.
Four main rules of anxiety are presented, which include being hypervigilant for danger, exaggerating threats, striving for control over situations, and avoiding or escaping potential threats.
The author implies that recognizing and correcting these anxious behavior patterns can lead to a more calm and controlled life.

Everything you wanted to know about anxiety. Part 3: Rules for Anxious People

After reading my posts on anxiety, you might come to the conclusion that it is not a person’s fault for having high levels of anxiety. In general, no one is to blame. These are the consequences of a program laid down in us by nature many millennia ago . And sometimes this program starts to work too intensively.

The questions I hear from all clients at the beginning of work are: will I live normally? Is it possible to do something about this? Will I become more calm/calm?

Of course yes. Some people need more time, some see noticeable results after 3–4 months, some after a year. Some people cope with the help of self-help books and videos of psychologists on YouTube, some need the help of a specialist, some use all methods — books with videos, and meetings with a psychologist.

In the first post of the anxiety series of articles , I briefly listed the main types of anxiety disorders. Despite the fact that they have different names and some differences, they have a common origin and a similar course. I’ll tell you more.

As you remember from the second post , anxiety is controlled by very ancient programs of our brain, and our evolutionary program gives us instructions for behavior in situations that pose a danger to humans . These instructions for anxious people can be transformed into a set of rules that govern a person’s thoughts, and then feelings, reactions and behavior. Man is a complex creature and these rules are also complex.

As a CBT specialist , I spend a lot of time exploring the client’s thoughts, beliefs, rules (usually I invite the client to joint research) in order to be able to discover and correct them.

Four main rules of anxiety:

1. recognize danger — this rule means that you need to quickly find out if there is a danger in order to escape/eliminate it. As you might guess, an anxious person is on the lookout for danger 24/7;

2. raise the danger to a catastrophic level — the rule requires increasing the degree of danger of the situation, raising it to the category of emergency. This rule is well illustrated by the saying “making a molehill out of a molehill;

3. control the situation — which means controlling absolutely everything that happens to the person himself and not only;

4. avoid or run away — following this rule, it is important to avoid everything that could become a dangerous situation or escape from it if this happens.