Anxiety, It Ain’t All Bad

Healthy vs. Unhealthy Anxiety

By Erika Hill, LPC

Anxiety is that feeling in your body that you get when you are stressed. Anxiety often manifests itself with physiological symptoms such as increased heart rate, sweaty palms, dry mouth, tingling sensations in limbs, and even headaches. Anxiety is fear or apprehension about something to come, as it is future-oriented. The hallmark phrase for anxiety is “what if”. However, not all anxiety is bad and some anxiety is very normal. To feel anxious at times is okay, as it simply means you have a pulse and are alive. However, when anxiety is kicked into overdrive, minimal stressors may be perceived as significant threats which cause the physiological symptoms to begin as well as the anxious thinking.  Anxiety can be broken down into two categories: healthy and unhealthy anxiety. 

 

Healthy anxiety pushes you to prepare, study, or do something. Healthy anxiety is what you might experience the day before a job interview that pushes you to research the company you are interviewing with and prepare. It is the type of anxiety that makes you study diligently before a major exam. Healthy anxiety recognizes the stakes at hand from a rational perspective. It is motivating and not debilitating. With healthy anxiety, we are productive and able to accomplish tasks with proportionate levels of stress given the circumstance.  

 

Unhealthy anxiety is not productive and is debilitating. It is when your anxiety causes you to freeze or get stuck. It immobilizes you. Unhealthy anxiety can cause you to panic and become overwhelmed. Oftentimes when people are overwhelmed, they do nothing. Tasks go unaccomplished, which then creates more anxiety. Unhealthy anxiety causes self-doubt and negative self-talk. It shows up the day before your interview and says “you aren’t ready”, “you’re not going to get the job”, “nobody is going to hire you”. Or unhealthy anxiety might say “you’re going to fail your test, then your GPA is going to drop, and you are going to be kicked out of school. So you should just give up and not study.” You can see here an irrational spiraling of negative thoughts as a result of unhealthy anxiety. The messages now being told to yourself are not motivating and you feel defeated.  

 

On top of the negative self-talk, you are also experiencing the physiological effects of anxiety which creates significant discomfort. Well, who wants to study or prepare or show up for an interview now? Chilling on the sofa and watching TV or taking a nap sounds much more comforting at this point. After all, you’re probably exhausted from the spiraling thoughts and a nap is well deserved. As you can see, this process of experiencing unhealthy anxiety is debilitating and immobilizing.   Unhealthy anxiety also removes us from the present moment and holds us hostage in future thinking. The thing about future-oriented thinking is there are a million possibilities that our minds can conjure up as to how we will fail or things will not go our way. We become so focused on the future that the present moment is overlooked and wasted. Many thoughts will begin with “what if” and can be completed with whatever our irrational mind believes such as “what if I fail my exam and can’t get a job”, “what if everyone thinks I’m stupid during the job interview”, “what if people don’t receive me well”, and a million other statements. 

 

So, how can we keep our anxiety in the healthy lane? Let’s look at four tips to manage our anxiety so that it does not become unhealthy.   

1)  Check Your Thoughts   Focus on the messages you are telling yourself. Write down your thoughts and then play detective by looking for evidence or facts that support or disprove those thoughts. For example, if the thought is “I’m gonna suck at this job interview because I always suck and can’t get a job because of it”, start looking for facts. You can ask yourself, “Is it true that I ALWAYS suck and that I can’t get a job?” Often when we enter into anxious thinking, it is irrational and we speak about ourselves in absolutes such as “always” and “never”. Identify the last job you had, as that can defeat the thought that you can’t get jobs. The irrational thought has now been challenged and is not as valid as once thought. You can also tell yourself when you have negative self-talk, “No, I Tell Myself…”. So if the thought is “I’m too stupid to pass the exam”, you would then say to yourself, “No, I tell myself I’m too stupid to pass the exam”. This reframe allows us to separate ourselves from the irrational negative self-talk we tell ourselves.  

2) Take a Time Out  Step back from the problem causing you anxiety. Give your body and brain a break and do something soothing. Try practicing yoga, listen to music, meditate, or engage in a relaxation technique such as Progressive Muscle Relaxation. When ready, return to the stressor or situation and prepare to complete it.  

3) Focus on the Present  Focus on the here and now. When we exist in the present, there is little opportunity to mind travel back to the past or to the future. A quote by Lao Tzu reads “If you are depressed you are living in the past. If you are anxious you are living in the future. If you are at peace you are living in the present.” This accurately sums up the need to be present and mindful. Our minds time travel back to the past or to the future, however, our bodies are always present. Allow your mind to come back to your body. You can do this by identifying what you are experiencing through your 5 senses (i.e. identify 5 things you see, 4 things you hear, 3 things touching you, 2 things you smell, and 1 thing you taste). You have now activated the body and mind to work together in the present moment.  

4) Breathe  Focus on your breathing. Being mindful about how we breathe also allows us to live in the present. Oftentimes when anxious, we are taking short, shallow breaths from our chest because we are holding our breath from being so stressed. Inhale and exhale slowly and deeply from your belly. Put your hands on your stomach and feel your stomach expand when you inhale and deflate when you exhale like a balloon. You can hold your inhale for a count of 4 and exhale for a count of 6 to help create deep, slow breathing. If you have trouble focusing on your breathing try using bubbles, yep the kind we blew as children. Inhale for 4 counts and then blow into the bubble wand for 6 counts.   Anxiety is normal and happens to everyone. However, we don’t want our anxiety to go into overdrive. If you notice your anxiety has a tendency to over function, try using these tips. And as always, we encourage everyone to connect with a professional that can help you manage your anxiety.  

The content on this website is not intended to diagnose or treat, it is for informational purposes only. Please call our office at 404-618-1040 for an appointment or contact a mental health professional in your local area if you are seeking treatment.