Understanding Anxiety And Decoding Its Messages
Do you struggle with rapid heart rates, a stream of intrusive anxious thoughts, and/or difficulties regulating your emotions? These are all possible symptoms that could point to anxiety. But is anxiety more than just a pathological condition? What is the purpose of it and why is it so prevalent? Anxiety can give us great insight into important information about ourselves. Anxiety can also be just a precursor for deeper emotions and feelings that have not yet been explored or brought to conscious awareness. If you or someone relates to some of the symptoms described about anxiety, reach out to us to see if we at Inward Counseling can help you. This article is not a replacement for therapy services and cannot serve as a diagnostic tool.
1.) Is anxiety a specific emotion or a messenger that is pointing to more?
This question is worth considering if you feel lost in anxiety symptoms. Anxiety is sometimes a hard concept to fully grasp and understand for those that experience it and can come with it multiple feelings. When someone says “im feeling anxious” that could really mean alot of different possible things. Anxiety can point towards more work oftentimes in discovering what is going on within a person. Anxiety can just be the “tip of the iceberg” when it comes to emotions. With that also being said, anxiety can be a very helpful tool. Anxiety can help to point a person towards where there is an unmet need or internal belief that hasn't been addressed.
2.) How can anxiety be helpful?
A person who experiences anxiety might also experience a lot of guilt and possible shame in association with the anxiety. When anxiety is in the driver's seat and makes all the “calls” in how to react to things it can feel overwhelming and ultimately not helpful. When we are able to understand where it is coming from and have more balance in discernment, that is when it can be useful and helpful. When we don’t feed into all of the “surface” content messages that anxiety presents and decide to focus on the process of where it's coming from, insight can be gained. Anxiety can tell us a lot about how we view ourselves and the world around us. Anxiety can be more information into possible trauma and trauma responses. Anxiety can help us to pay more attention to details that we might not be able to without it (as long as there is actual tangible evidence for the anxiety). Anxiety can keep individuals alert when it is necessary.
3.) What can help to improve discernment of anxiety and its messages?
Some tools that can be helpful in “decoding” and understanding the messages that anxiety is trying to convey can include journaling. Journaling can be a great tool in getting thoughts and experiences down to process visually. Visual processors might find journaling as a helpful tool in better understanding where the content of thoughts are coming from. Mindfulness practices can also be helpful to go into the body and understand somatic sensation messages that anxiety is alerting to. A trained mental health professional will also be the most helpful individual to help you be able to understand and navigate through anxiety. Therapists with training and interventions could help to get to a place of understanding your experience of anxiety. It can be so helpful to have another person as well to talk to and feel less alone in the anxiety. Reach out to us today to see if we can be a good fit for you and your needs. You are not alone in your experience and your story is worth being told and heard.
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