Anxiety: causes & how to overcome them
You remember Asterix, the little, brave Gaul? The village, where he lives with his fat buddy Obelix, fiercely opposes Caesar's legionaries and is surrounded by fortified Roman camps. Still, and that's amazing, Asterix and Co are just afraid of one thing: that the sky will fall on their heads. From today's perspective, a completely absurd fear, especially since the real threat of the Roman troops, objectively considered to have been much scary. But: The Gauls possess the magic potion made by the Druid Miraculix, which gives them superhuman powers. This trump card allows you a largely fearless life. What remains is the completely irrational fear of the falling sky.
This little excursion into the comic world makes one thing clear: even if there is no concrete reason for anxiety, the archaic feeling of fear likes to find a niche in which to survive. And, just like the Gauls, this fear of rest is often irrational. If we look at our lives under temporal and geographical aspects of life and limb dangers, we find that we live here in central Europe in the present day in spite of all perceived threats, as surely as never before and nowhere. In the last sentence is already the key word: felt threat. This can trigger much stronger feelings of anxiety than the real threat would justify. Let's look at the phenomenon of fear a little bit on its evolutionary roots.
Fear as a survival mechanism
Fear is an integral part of the scale of human emotions. Medically and philosophically, she is one of the basic emotions such as sadness, joy, shame, love and anger. Fear has a clear right to exist as a protective mechanism. If it rustled behind a prehistoric man in the bushes, he did not think long whether this is the wind or a saber-toothed tiger. He got scared and ran away. Even though he fled in vain for 99 out of 100 cases, the fear reaction saved his life in the one case where it was the tiger.
The physical reaction
The aphorism? Anxiety gives wings? The French narrator Gustave Flaubert describes the physical reaction to anxiety very aptly. All sensory perceptions are sharpened, the stress hormone adrenaline is released in high quantities and the body is programmed to escape. Moments of great fear often give people unimaginable physical strength and they can virtually "fly away" from the source of danger. When the danger is over, the organism returns to normal operation relatively quickly.
Real versus unreal fear
While human beings were still preoccupied with life-threatening threats, the threat scenario is a completely different one today. If we hear of a terrorist attack that killed 300 people, we are overcome by anxiety and a diffuse fear of becoming victims ourselves. On the other hand, we ignore the more than 3,000 traffic fatalities a year in Germany as soon as we get into the car. The less tangible a threat is, the more diffuse is the associated fear. In the car, we have our hands on the wheel, while the actions of terrorists are completely unpredictable and detached from our own actions. If an anxiety disorder develops from anxiety, it is called a phobia. This is often characterized by an exaggerated fear that is no longer appropriate to the situation. Those affected often seek their salvation in avoiding the trigger of anxiety, for example, crowds (demophobia), narrow spaces (claustrophobia) or large open spaces (agoraphobia). Phobias are often incomprehensible to outsiders and have the strangest triggers. For example, an anatidae phobiker suffers from the fear of being watched by ducks. Anatidaephobia is one of more than 600 medically recognized phobias.
Dealing with fears
When fears or phobias begin to limit the quality of life and move increasingly into the foreground of perception, a doctor should ALWAYS be consulted. It does not matter if these fears are dismissed or idolized by other people as nothingnesses. Only the person concerned can judge how serious the feeling of fear is. As a rule, the family doctor is the first point of contact. He can help to select the right specialist and issue a corresponding referral. Often, even this first step, with which one defies fear and actively takes action against it, can reduce anxiety.
As long as the fears do not prevail, you can try to internalize the following behavioral measures. They can help alleviate or completely eliminate stressful anxiety feelings.
- As soon as the thoughts begin to circle a possible horror scenario, say STOP. And not only inwardly, but loud and clear. To persistently push thoughts in another direction helps to stop the carousel of fear in the brain.
- Turn on the mind and try to name the fear concretely.By not trying to avoid fear, but looking at it rationally, you are already taking the nameless terror.
- Ask a trusted person and ask how he or she assesses the situation. Are you in a real danger, which the other person also assesses, or is one the victim of an unreal fear? Talking about it always helps!
- If the fear is the result of a real threat, such as existential anxiety due to a job loss, the best way to do so is to act in a targeted and solution-oriented manner. To give oneself to fear paralyzes and makes the situation seem more and more hopeless.
As always: In the comments you can share your thoughts, experiences and tips on this topic with all.
