Anxiety is a natural response to a potential threat and is normally accompanied by mild to moderate activation of the body’s stress response system. Anxiety is nature’s ‘yellow light’ alerting us that something unpleasant might (or might not) happen. Fear, on the other hand, is nature’s ‘red light’ alarming us to a clear and present danger to life or limb. Normally both system activate our 'Fight/Flight/Freeze’ systems to different degrees.
Sometimes however, the two systems become confused, we become alarmed when we need only be alert, we perceive danger when there is merely threat. These ‘false alarms’ can be triggered by thoughts of failure, rejection, or embarrassment. Frequent false alarms can cause immense distress and impairment and even long term physical or mental health injury accompanied by panic attacks; phobias; social anxiety; self- harming; obsessive activities or post-traumatic stress. Fortunately, there are effective psychological treatments available.
Treatment by mental health professionals greatly reduces and sometimes eliminates anxiety symptoms. It also increases the likelihood of greater resilience for the future.
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"Most great instigators of social change have intimate personal knowledge of trauma. Oprah Winfrey comes to mind, as do Maya Angelou, Nelson Mandela, and Elie Wiesel. Read the life history of any visionary, and you will find insights and passions that came from having dealt with devastation".
Dr. Bessel Van Der Kolk, ‘The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma’