A systems view of biological health
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There are a vast number of possible causes of general anxiety, and also of factors that can maintain anxiety. So what might appear on the surface to be a simple thing may be or may not be... The specifics are very personal and individual, and there is very little simple general approach (other than the very generalised and non-specific suggestions below). Anxiety may come with hyperarousal in which the senses are extremely acute to certain environmental factors and/ or may be more dissociative (and more panicky, possibly tending towards fainting).
Panic attacks are essentially dissociative anxiety that is flooding the mind and sensory system, and so is in an attentive feedback loop. The primary useful sequence of response to both panic and anxiety starts with a cognitive level of discrimination, recognising that whatever is being experienced is out of proportion to whatever is actually happening. If this basic (self-honest) level of discrimination is not present, then the other steps I'm describing are not so easily applicable, but nevertheless may still sometimes work. Once this separation and clarification is possible (by settling into more of an observer position of attention), then you're already part way towards helping reduce the intensity, manage anxiety, and possibly make posaitive long-term changes. The techniques I desctribe can be used in a more superficial "fix-it" way or can be deepened to have a more lasting effect - the process of deepening is not always so easy without assistance.
Of course, there may actually be something in your immediate environment that to some degree justifies the anxiety or panic, and your body requires self-honesty in this case. However, there is still the issue of "is what I'm feeling truly in proportion to this...?" If it isn't, you know that part of the feelings are driven by unprocessed memories of past events. Your body-mind is in reality only interested in the safety of the immediate moment (+/- a few minutes either way) and your immediate environment (+/- a few tens of metres if outside, or within the confines of any enclosed space).
To give a brief list of just a few of the possible drivers for anxiety and panic that go beyond your present immediate environmental reality:
- Gut bacteria balance and inflammatory processes. Gut microbiome and inflammation are sometimes major points of leverage that can give a big return (in terms of reduced symptoms) on relatively little input. Gut microbiome interventions (i.e. encouraging a healthier gut ecology) are now used to great effect by some Harley Street psychotherapy practices.
- Learned anxiety - some dysfunctional and anxious parents teach their children to be anxious as a basic attitude to life. Learning how to experience safety in this case is not impossible, is very worthwhile, but is also not a trivial endeavour. People who are simultaneously healthy, highly functional and happy - tend to see the world as being primarily a safe and interesting, even joyful place to live. Their lives consequently tend to be easier and more enjoyable regardless of circumstances.
- Inherited anxiety - the resourcedness or unresourcedness of your mother and grandmothers (and ancestors back a few more generations) during pregnancy
[1] can imprint your cells epigenetically. Epigenetic imprints are not "written in tablets of stone" - and since genetic expression is determined by methylation, even some genetic issues do not necessarily have to be expressed. You are more in control of your destiny than popularised medical genetics would have us believe.
- Fear accidentally absorbed during the first few months post-birth from other people(!)
- Unresolved memories of events that - to your biology/body-mind - were potential mortal threats to survival. There is sometimes a big difference between what your body-mind "thinks" is a survival situation vs. what your cognitive mind thinks.
- Psychic / empathic "aerials" are out a little too far... There is a lot of disturbance, fear and anxiety in the collective consciousness at the moment - which may be sensed from people who you are deeply connected to or just to the general sea of humanity. If there is no clarity as to what is coming from outside vs. what is coming from inside and is relevant to now (vs. what is coming from memory) - then all emotions are taken personally, and culturally we are encouraged to make up stories to explain to ourselves why we are feeling that way.
1 The egg you grew out of was formed when your mother was just three months old in her mother's womb. And if there is (biological) survival-level stress affecting the mother, the egg undergoes epigenetic changes (including a more adrenaline-dominated metabolism) to survive a dangerous world, that can affect the next few generations. The state of the mother is also dependent on the support (or lack thereof) from the Father, the rest of the family, and the commnuity and society she is in at the time. We are, as a society, collectively responsible for individual inherited anxiety. If this were better understood, there would be more effort to ensure that women intending to conceive are properly supported and helped to feel safe and cared-for through the whole pregnancy, delivery and first few months post-birth.
