This is Part 1 of our series of articles on anxiety.

Anxiety is one of the most common presenting problems that patients come to our office with.

• Some people are anxious in social situations.

• Others may worry excessively about physical symptoms, thinking that they may have a heart attack or collapse.

• Another common theme is unwanted, intrusive thoughts that cause a great deal of anxiety and stress and interfere with the person's life. This is especially common in case of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD).

• Some people are fearful of specific objects or situations (such as seeing blood, riding in an elevator, taking a subway, etc.)

• And, sometimes people seem to worry about everything! They worry about the safety of their loved ones, health, work or school, and the future.

When we ask patients at the first session what they would consider a good outcome of our therapy, they usually say: I want to stop being anxious. Interestingly, it does not matter if they are old or young. Kids, teens, and adults all plead for the same thing: NOT. TO BE. ANXIOUS. PLEASE! AND LET’S MAKE IT FAST!

Then, we go ahead and disappoint them. Taking a chance that we might lose them as patients forever. We first tell them the bad news: Getting rid of anxiety is both impossible and inadvisable. 

Sometimes, we also sheepishly add, Sorry!

Then, we wait and watch. If the patient does not storm out of the office in righteous indignation, we consider the prognosis favorable and continue with the good news: Anxiety does not have to remain a problem. You don't have to continue to allow it to control your life.

And then we put on our old, dusty* CBT-therapist hat and we get to work.

The first step is:

Understanding Anxiety

First, a little disclaimer: For the sake of simplicity, I will use the words Fear and Anxiety interchangeably. But, for the word-perfect among you, they are technically not exactly the same. 

Fear is a response to an immediate, or definite threat - real or perceived.

Anxiety is a feeling we may get when contemplating a vague and uncertain potential threat, or the possibility of a threat. Basically, anxiety is the anticipation of something bad happening.

So, fear is a response to an immediate danger, and anxiety is a response to the possibility of something going wrong in the future.

But honestly, I bet if you are fearful of something, you'll be anxious about it too. And if you are anxious, you must be pretty fearful. So, one can (and likely will) lead to the other and they'll probably coincide most of the time. Moreover, fear and anxiety evoke the same physiological response.**

There are a few things that you need to know about anxiety:

1. Anxiety is normal.

We are wired to be fearful.

Did you know that our brains are wired in a way that makes it very easy for us to be scared? At the center of our brain, in the limbic system, there's an almond-shaped structure called the amygdala.*** The amygdala's job is to quickly warn us of danger.

While positive thinking is a very fashionable and sexy topic these days, let me tell you something not so sexy: We are wired to be negative.

What? How can it be? What about Oprah? And the laws of attraction?

Well, hear me out. 

When our ancestors had to decide whether the rustling in the bush meant that there was just a mouse or a tiger in the bush, they had to decide really fast. (And, hopefully, use the amygdala for help).

The negative thinkers among them likely kept thinking time after time that it must be a tiger. Those pessimists also likely kept running away for their dear life every time. If they were always wrong, they either became pretty physically fit or became the tribe clown. 

The positive thinkers, on the other hand, may have optimistically decided that it must be a mouse. I would be very interested to know if they hoped the Laws of Attraction were on their side. Unfortunately, we will never satisfy our curiosity on this matter. Why? Because, even if they were wrong just once, they never lived to tell their tale or to pass their genes to future generations.

Basically, anxiety gears us toward numerous harmless false positives and helps avoid that single devastating false negative.

My point here is that we have come by it honestly. We are probably more likely to be the surviving descendants of negative people. Sucks, I know. And a warning: Please don't share this last little factoid with your mother.

2. Anxiety Keeps Us Safe

Anxiety is helpful and adaptive. It is necessary for our survival. It protects us from dangerous situations, from doing stupid things (hopefully), and even from embarrassing ourselves (if we are lucky).

Fear activates our Sympathetic Nervous System, which triggers a "fight, flight, or freeze" response. When we are in danger, this system takes over, and we are able either to defend ourselves or escape quickly without thinking.

This is what allows us to survive. And, this is why we strongly discourage our patients' (understandable) quest for getting rid of anxiety.

3. Anxiety is Common

According to the Anxiety Disorders Association of Canada, the 12-month prevalence of any anxiety disorder is over 12% and one in four Canadians (25%) will have at least one anxiety disorder in their lifetime.

Every living organism experiences anxiety. Even a sea slug has it!

4. Anxiety is Not Dangerous

People suffering from anxiety often believe that it is dangerous and harmful. But the reality is quite the contrary. It is our ally. We just have to not let it get out of hand. 

The bottom line is that all of us living beings need anxiety for survival.

I guess this leaves us with a Love/Hate relationship with anxiety for now.

In Part Two of this article, we will talk about the main causes of anxiety.

Footnotes:

*Actually, the said hat never ever gets dusty as we use it daily.

**When people learn to ban rumination (anxiety-inducing self-talk), they may learn to experience in-the-moment fear without necessarily experiencing anxiety. But this is beyond the scope of this article.

***Really there are two such structures. And for the trivia buffs, the plural form is amygdalae. So we are all the lucky owners of two almond-shaped amygdalae that keep us super-safe!

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Anna Prudovski is a Psychologist and the Clinical Director of Turning Point Psychological Services. She has a special interest in treating anxiety disorders and OCD, as well as working with parents.

Anna lives with her husband and children in Vaughan, Ontario. When she is not treating patients, supervising clinicians, teaching CBT, and attending professional workshops, Anna enjoys practicing yoga, going on hikes with her family, traveling, studying Ayurveda, and spending time with friends. Her favorite pastime is reading.