The downward spiral

 Last time we spoke about how to unlock your brain during an anxiety attack / panic attack / bad period in your life. That is a tool for immediate help when the anxiety has already gotten out of control.  Those tips help when we feel like we're drowning in worries and fear. But what if we could stop the anxiety from ever getting that bad?

Let's first look at the spiral of anxiety, the infamous downward spiral. There are a few alternatives, but Dr. Julie Smith has summed it up nicely:

"The more we focus on the negative, the more negatives we experience." 

We get what we focus on. If we focus on threats, we only see threats (and miss all the good things in life). If we focus only on reward and pleasure, we'll be blind to risks and consequences. We need balance. Anxiety is very, very skilled in throwing that balance off.

The spiral works on a large scale as well as a small scale. Let's look at a few examples to see the spiral in action.

Panic attack as a downward spiral: Dr. Smith's example is about a panic attack, which is essentially a small downward spiral. We experience symptoms, misinterpret them as something scary, and desperately try to change the situation. It won't work (we misinterpreted the situation, so we're fixing the wrong problem). The symptoms get stronger the more we stress. Stronger "symptoms" -> more stress -> Stronger "symptoms" etc.

Generalized anxiety as a downward spiral: The more we think of our anxiety and panic, the more we'll feel their effects. By thinking about it we simply do not think of other, more pleasant things. We learn to think only of the perceived threats. Your first panic attack is scary, but you'll forget about it eventually... until it happens again. Now you'll start to avoid the place it happened. Then, just to be sure, places reminding you of that place. Clothes you wore when the anxiety attack happened. Activities you wanted to do when the attack hit. 

You'll not avoid the original problem (physical sensation of anxiety), but random, unrelated factors that remind you of the fear it caused. Down the spiral you go, enjoy your trip! The anxiety becomes generalized. We've become afraid of fear itself.

Not kidding, I spent months avoiding wearing a pair of shoes I had on during a panic attack. Logically I knew the shoes didn't cause the attack, but ... but... what if? I'm also still mildly uncomfortable in the place that happened. And thinking of going there. And thinking of the trains taking me there. Etc etc.

Health anxiety as a downward spiral: We feel a new sensation, and label it as a "symptom". It's not really taking that much of our time, until we start looking into it. We start to browse the Internet and other sources for information. Very soon the tiny sensation becomes a possible cancer, an impending doom, and we're dying right now. 

Through the spiral the anxiety takes over our lives. 

This example from deeperconvos.com is for social anxiety, but it works for health anxiety just as well. The more we focus on our perceived health problems, the sicker we feel - simply because we neglect all other sensations. 

Okay, so now we know we can fall into a seemingly endless spiral of sickness, anxiety and hyperventilation. Great! No, really, it is very important to realize this. We need to understand the mechanic so we can avoid it and solve it.

Stay tuned for tips to solve it.

Next time we'll talk about a prevention plan - a custom-made tool that helps you to recognize when you're getting out of control. Eventually we ourselves recognize it, sure...

but wouldn't it be nice to break out of the spiral before others notice, too?