How Anxiety Can Be Perceived as Illness and How That Shapes Your Recovery

You may have been told repeatedly that you have an anxiety disorder by medics, psychologists or other medical professionals, but do you believe this to be absolutely true?

It's easy to say that you have anxiety but believing it wholeheartedly is another matter altogether!

Beliefs are a vital part of the flight or fight response as they are formed by the coming together of sensory input, intellect and creativity... but why?

In the fight or flight response, a group of vital bodily changes respond in order to make, sometimes life saving, decisions. This response is designed as part of the internal defense mechanism designed to react appropriately and quickly when a threat is present.

Imagine this scenario. You are driving along a secluded lane at night time and you are confronted by a burning car on its roof with people inside screaming for help. You have very little time to put your conscious mind into gear so your subconscious mind takes over. First of all it activates the flight or fight response and adrenalin is released. Your heart speeds up, your sensory organs become more sensitive, blood is diverted to your muscles to carry oxygen and water to them, ready for activity... your mouth goes dry, your digestion slows and you go into 'emergency mode'. In an instant your body is ready for action and your mind follows suit. In these situations, your subconscious can't rely on your slower conscious mind to cope alone so it starts 'problem solving', 'risk assessing' and calculating the most effective course of action possible. Part of this is to produce 'what if' thought processes, creating mental scenarios based on the worst case outcome in order to calculate risk.

Those thought processes ask, "What if I get to the car and it explodes? What if I can't lift the passenger out? What if the car tips over onto me?" All of this 'scenario building' assessing risk before the decisions are made.

This scenario assumes that REAL risk is present.

Now, transpose this same level of anxious response into your life. You have high levels of anxiety where NO REAL threat is present! But the 'problem solving' 'scenario building' continues... it has to; it is part of the flight or fight mechanism!

But, now there is no problem to be solved so these 'what if' thought processes work on the issues presented to it in your daily life, so it asks questions like:

* What if there is something 'wrong' with me the medics are 'missing'?
* What if I have a serious disease?
* What if I lose consciousness?
* What if I go mad?
* What if I die?
* What if something happens to a family member?
* What if I harm someone I love?
* What if I am gay?
* What if I... blah, blah, blah...

Do you see where this is going?

Every thought you have had since you have been anxious has been the product of inappropriate 'what if thoughts' building anxiety fueled scenarios in your mind.

Does this make sense?

I have had clients say:

* I sometimes think about killing my kids
* I sometimes think I am gay
* I sometimes think about killing myself
* I sometimes think about incest with my mother/father

All these subconscious, anxious scenarios are produced by the flight or fight respond, eagerly seeking out and questioning anything it can get its teeth into... creating 'what ifs' in your subconscious.

So, when you start to think that 'perhaps there is something else wrong with me'... tell yourself that those thought processes are simply the product of the flight or fight response, disregard them in your decision making and move forward with positivity, KNOWING that you can become anxiety free again. And you will!

Being anxiety free is already pre-programmed into you, I just show you how to turn the anxiety OFF.

Charles Lindenrncl@panic-anxiety.com
www.thelindenmethod.com
www.thelindenmethod.co.uk