Causes of Anxiety

[ananda]

Something stressful like depression can trigger a strong anxiety response from your body, and people don't know how to turn it off. Giving into the anxiety feels like the right thing to do but in reality, it isn't.

Yes, indeed. For example, heart palpitations are only just that - heart palpitations. Only when one's brain interprets that as "fear" does it become "fear" and "anxiety".

 

[ananda]

Updated 7/17/13 with more info on adrenal & thyroid issues.

 

[SMacGregor]

There is a common factor behind most of our fears or our anxiety – the way they are formed. We are aroused by only two sensations, pain and pleasure. We all want to avoid pain and pursue pleasure. The emotional cycle which leads to fear begins in the present with our initial experience of pain or pleasure, and ends up with complex feelings which are “remembered” exclusively in the past. This cycle of emotions has been found by psychiatrists to follow the following pattern:

1. Pain in the present is experienced as hurt.
2. Pain in the past is remembered as anger.
3. Pain in the future is perceived as anxiety or fear.
4. Unexpressed anger, redirected against ourselves and held within is experienced as guilt.
5. The depletion of energy that occurs when anger is redirected inward creates depression.

If we encounter an incident which hurts us (slipping on a step while high on a ladder), and if we are unable to adequately understand, resolve or communicate our feelings about this incident, then it is automatically stored in the subconscious mind. If we then encounter the same or a similar incident (leaning over the edge of a tall building) at a later date, this “hurt” is automatically “recalled” by our subconscious mind.

 

[ananda]

Thread updated on 7/22 with a new entry on gluten intolerance/celiac. I highlight this in red as this appears to be a significant root-cause of many anxiety issues.

 

[rpea]

Misterchristian,

I have learned the hard way that what we put before our eyes is VERY important. I have eliminated all mysteries, soaps, anything to do with violence or magic or fantasy. I'm looking into getting cable so I will more clean choices to chose from. Stuff like TV Land, Discovery, TLC, Food Network, etc. We have to guard ourselves since the anxiety can attach itself to so many different things and use it against us.

 

[davidtriune]

to OP: Thanks for taking the time to write this! Much appreciated!

 

[ananda]

Misterchristian,

I have learned the hard way that what we put before our eyes is VERY important. I have eliminated all mysteries, soaps, anything to do with violence or magic or fantasy. I'm looking into getting cable so I will more clean choices to chose from. Stuff like TV Land, Discovery, TLC, Food Network, etc. We have to guard ourselves since the anxiety can attach itself to so many different things and use it against us.

Or better yet ... perhaps no TV at all?

My wife and I are cutting down on the amount of TV we watch, and instead turning to reading ... it's much more calming, and there's so much to learn!

 

[ananda]

to OP: Thanks for taking the time to write this! Much appreciated!

You're welcome!

 

[SMacGregor]

We can all experience different fears and anxieties in many different ways, yet there is a common factor behind most of our fears or our anxiety – the way they are formed.

Fear is the negative effect of imagination and can occur spontaneously, and against our will. Negative thoughts attract negative thoughts and this can lead to fear and anxiety.


Kindest regards,
Sandy MacGregor

 

[melody123]

This information cured me along with Nutritional Balancing, Think Right Now CD's and Bible meditation.

When stressed we lose a lot of Magnesium and our Electrolytes become unbalanced. Much is diet related and biological. Google the Magnesium Advocacy Group (FB), Dr. Carolyn Dean, Morley Robbins and Dr. Rick Malter to learn more.

Since I cannot post a link please Google "How to Stop Panic Attacks Forever" I have copied it here. The website is from Churches of God.


HOW TO STOP panic attacks FOREVER

The connection between lactic acid and panic attacks​

​

Cindy Throgmorton
thechurchesofgod.com

.

 

[fireof god98]

to much ice cream?

 

[ananda]

We can all experience different fears and anxieties in many different ways, yet there is a common factor behind most of our fears or our anxiety – the way they are formed.

Fear is the negative effect of imagination and can occur spontaneously, and against our will. Negative thoughts attract negative thoughts and this can lead to fear and anxiety.


Kindest regards,
Sandy MacGregor

That's a good point, Sandy!

Yes, like attracts like. If one engages in thinking many negative thoughts, or somehow filling one's head with such thoughts in some way, it's not hard to imagine that the mind will favor such pathways in the brain.

Perhaps many of us should reconsider watching too many negative television programs filled with negative imaginations. The reason many of us love them is because our brains can't tell the difference between "real" or "imaginary" violence, etc.

 

[ananda]

This information cured me along with Nutritional Balancing, Think Right Now CD's and Bible meditation.

When stressed we lose a lot of Magnesium and our Electrolytes become unbalanced. Much is diet related and biological. Google the Magnesium Advocacy Group (FB), Dr. Carolyn Dean, Morley Robbins and Dr. Rick Malter to learn more.

Since I cannot post a link please Google "How to Stop Panic Attacks Forever" I have copied it here. The website is from Churches of God.


HOW TO STOP panic attacks FOREVER

The connection between lactic acid and panic attacks​

​

Cindy Throgmorton
thechurchesofgod.com

.

Thanks for sharing, melody123! Yes, magnesium is very important, and many are deficient. And thanks for the reference!

 

[ananda]

Added a new portion to my first post in this thread regarding modifying and erasing problematic thoughts and their associated emotions - placed under the "Thoughts" section.

 

[ananda]

Also added note regarding virtual reality experiences & updated the "over activity in parts of the brain" section.

 

[ananda]

to much ice cream?

Surprisingly, this is very possible.

Too much ice cream/sugar can lead to issues with the adrenals and adrenaline balance in the body, and it can also feed the bad gut bacteria, which can lead to negative thoughts.

 

[Khasilooluv]

Wonderful post, thank you

 

[ananda]

Wonderful post, thank you

You're welcome, hope it was helpful.

 

[ToBeBlessed]

Do you have any suggestions for further study for someone that is under employed and doesn't have medical insurance. Any references on books or anything else.

Thx.

I have a book called "Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma". Link

Peter Levine, Ph.D. is the originator and developer of Somatic Experiencing® and the Director of the Foundation for Human Enrichment. He holds doctorate degrees in both Medical Biophysics and Psychology. During his thirty year study of stress and trauma, Dr. Levine has contributed to a variety of scientific, medical, and popular publications. His book, Waking the Tiger: Healing Trauma is in its fifth printing and receiving wide international attention. Peter was a consultant for NASA during the development of the Space Shuttle, and has taught at hospitals and pain clinics in both Europe and the U.S., as well as at the Hopi Guidance Center in Arizona. He lives near Lyons, Colorado, on the banks of the St. Vrain River.

This is one reader's synopsis that is pretty accurate.

Peter Levine in "Waking the Tiger," postulates that trauma exists not in the event or in the story of the event, but is stored within the nervous system. Many common physical ailments are actually residues of thwarted trauma reactions incurred during such events as surgical procedures, falls, pre or perinatal stress and/or childhood accidents and traumas. The body has a natural, innate, and miraculous capacity to heal once these reactions are understood and guided.

Levine reinforces the holistic nature of the human being. Our bodies and brains connect instinct, emotion and rationality to our experience. Trauma may create damaging and often enduring symptoms. Human beings have a harder time than do animals in releasing trauma and may carry it throughout our lives. We often become frozen in trauma, unlike animals that can cope with the unpredictability of nature. This may provide a major interference with our health, peace of mind and the ability to live joyfully and creatively. When human trauma remains unhealed, the energy of the trauma and accompanying emotions remain locked within the brain and held within the body's musculature, tissues and organs, awaiting discharge.

The author writes about an oft-forgotten aspect of trauma, freezing or immobilization during a traumatic experience. Modern medicine/psychiatry emphasize the "flight or fight" response while often neglecting the freeze response. The concept of the freeze response in the face of overwhelming threat provides a missing link to symptoms such as dissociation that our old ideas of "fight or flight" fail to explain. Immobilization in the face of threat is an automatic biological response that is not voluntarily chosen by the victim. This provides redeeming message to trauma survivors.

Levine points out that our memories are not literal recordings of events, but rather, a complex of images that are influenced by arousal, emotional context, and prior experience. Memories may even transform over time as new experiences add layers of meaning to the images. While remembering the past can be an important aspect of therapy, appreciating the subjective quality of memories is crucial to integrating them appropriately into the healing process.

Those with deep psychological scars may have dissociated the memory from their minds and are living in a numbed, tensed body awaiting its release so the body can return to wholeness and optimum mental and physical health. The author asserts that psychological wounds are reversible and that healing comes when the physical and mental letting go occurs, similar to the way the tiger experiences the coming and going of threat, tensing in response to danger, and as the threat passes, the tiger's muscles shake, twitch and let go right then and there the fear related energy which now is forever out of mind and body. Trauma is stored energy that must be released.​

I would recommend it.

 

[Tigger45]

Thx it was in stock at the book store