Many people who suffer from anxiety and anxiety-related problems have become immune to their own distress. This is particularly sad because there are many steps that can be taken to reduce or eliminate anxiety and treat the underlying problems that  keep the anxiety going. Many of my patients say they are accustomed to their anxiety symptoms and generally don't notice how much discomfort they are in. They see it as normal to be in a regular state of physical or emotional distress. When anxiety and the underlying causes and mechanisms are addressed directly (instead of ignored), relief is possible.

Unfortunate things happen in life and unwanted events do occur: we lose people we love, we get sick, we are mistreated or rejected by people we rely upon, kids grow up and move away, we lose jobs or competitions we had hoped to win.

Suffering is not a guarantee nor is it inevitable if you know how to recognize, identify, experience, and process the anxiety and feelings underlying these life events and other difficulties.

    Emotional symptoms of anxiety

    Along with irrational fear and excessive worry are these other common 
emotional symptoms of anxiety:

Physical symptoms of anxiety

     Anxiety is more than just a feeling - it often is accompanied by wide range of
physical symptoms, including:

A lens through which to understand anxiety

No matter how well-meaning our caregivers might have been, most of us have experienced trauma in childhood in the form of unconstructive, neglectful, or abusive parental responses. These experiences prime us to become adults who are incapable of: soothing ourselves, regulating and processing our feelings and anxiety, perceiving ourselves, others, and our possibilities accurately, and generally succeeding in accordance with our optimal potential.

Feelings that result from difficult childhood experiences get comingled with and blocked by anxiety.  We experience the anxiety instead of feeling our actual feelings.  Our feelings get suppressed (i.e., we are not aware of them and how they are affecting us).  As a result, our feelings are replaced with dysfunctional habits/patterns (i.e., how we treat ourselves and others), which we call "defenses."  These defenses are particularly problematic because they keep us from knowing and processing our real feelings. These faulty "feeling management strategies" become regular patterns or habits that get brought into adulthood and relied upon despite the fact that they no longer serve any productive or healthy purpose and cause suffering to ourselves and others.

The content on this site does not constitute medical advice, medical treatment or a patient-doctor (fiduciary) relationship.