Month: January 2019

Source: pixabay.com

 

Are you feeling scared all the time about almost everything that even your own family can’t seem to comprehend what it is you are feeling exactly? Have you ever imagined that this could be possible – a constant and continuous phobia or a persistent feeling of fear and anxiety?

“But, there are people whose physical makeup predisposes them to chronic anxiety, unrelated to threat. They worry about everything, no matter how unreal the perceived threat seems to be. They have Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD).” – Deborah Khoshaba Psy.D.

Here’s a list of the descriptions that you may feel when you are confirmed to be feeling constant fear and anxiety.

·      Feeling scared all the time.

·      A feeling that you are in a state of fear every minute of every day.

·      You are always feeling afraid, and your reactions to everything always involved fear.

·      Feeling gloomy and paranoia that doom is always following you.

·      Your thoughts are filled with fearful thoughts that are unstoppable.

·      The feeling that there’s danger everywhere you go.

·      Your fear response is always turned on.

·      You are startled by almost anything, big or small.

·      A feeling like everything is a threat and a disaster.

·      You feel afraid over things you were not afraid of before.

·      Feeling dreadful all the time.

 

Causes Of Always Feeling Afraid

There are two primary causes of constant fear and anxiety: behavior and the physical, emotional, and psychological effects of stress.

John Kim, LMFT, wrote, “Most people are driven by their fears, leading them to make (or avoid making) particular decisions that pull them down a dark, sticky dead-end road.”

Behavior

This refers specifically to apprehensive or hesitant behavior, like the feeling of worry. This kind of behavior forms the physical, emotional and psychological state of being anxious, which is anxiety. When we act hesitantly, our body’s survival mechanism is turned on, more particularly, the stress response. We then release hormones that travel throughout certain parts of the body, resulting in bodily changes that heighten its capacity to handle the threat. This is the stress response or the fight or flight response.

 

The more worried we are, the more operational the stress response becomes. Therefore, constant worry consequently creates a state of anxiety or being scared all the time.

 

Source: pixabay.com

 

The Physical, Emotional, And Psychological Consequences Of Stress

As mentioned above, behaving apprehensively turns on one’s stress response. When this happens, the amygdala or the fear center located in the brain also becomes active while the rationalization parts of the brain are suppressed, causing a heightened sense of fear and peril and a decreased capacity to think rationally. Thus, behaving hesitantly initially leads to a state of anxiety, and then the changes that affect one’s physical, emotional, and psychological aspects, which are the result of the activation of the stress response. Finally, the outcome is of constant fear and anxiety.

 

The explanation further supports that when fear occurs, it’s not that the brain is not functioning appropriately. On the contrary, it is functioning the way it should be when we think that we are threatened, in any form of danger, or when the body becomes too stressed. The constant fear, then, is caused both by behavior and the effect of apprehensive behavior.

 

Eliminating The Feeling Of Always Being Afraid

Obviously, if you want to stop the stimulation of the stress response and its accompanying changes, you’ll need to learn how to calm yourself down. And when your body recuperates from the stress response, you should expect a diminished level of excitement and a gradual return to your normal state. Remember that it takes more than 20 minutes for your body to recover from a stress response. This shouldn’t alarm you, as this is a normal occurrence.

 

However, when the fight and flight reaction originated from a hyperstimulated stress response, your body will need more time to return to its normal state, and the constant fear wanes and eventually disappears.

 

It is important to note that displaying a hesitant or angst-ridden behavior involves creating a change in behavior as well. For instance, instead of fearfully thinking about your future, you need to modify your behavior in a way that you can imagine your future in a more hopeful tone. If it’s not easy for you to do this or to change this bad habit, you might want to seek help from a mental health professional or a therapist to assist you in determining and tackling the fundamental factors that have resulted in you displaying such apprehensive behavior.

 

Basically, most individuals are not able to make the necessary behavioral changes by themselves. A professional counselor or therapist is usually recommended to evoke a meaningful and productive transition, especially for those who always have fear or anxiety issues. It will also take the support of family, friends, and significant others to achieve a positive outcome physically, mentally successfully, and emotionally.

 

Conclusion

Source: alliant.edu

Linda Sapadin, Ph.D. poses a challenge: “Picture yourself standing at a fork in the road. You can choose the left fork…the right fork…or you can continue standing at the crossroads forever.”

A combination of excellent self-help data and working closely with a seasoned anxiety disorder or depression coach, therapist, or counselor is one of the most efficient methods of addressing constant fear, anxiety, and their symptoms. A person struggling with an anxiety disorder has difficulty controlling herself from becoming anxious again and again. The goal of the professional is to rid you of the symptoms haunting you and causing you to feel fear, hopelessness, and worry, and replace these with feelings and thoughts of determination, confidence, and hope for a better future.