by Gioele Cedro and Sharon Puccio
Short Intervention Psychologists trained in Single Session Therapy
www.psicologitirreno.it
Anxiety is like a rocking chair: you are always on the move, but you don’t take a step forward.
(Jodi Picoult)
What is anxiety?
The Treccani dictionary reports that the term “Anxiety” derives from the Latin adjective anxius “anxious” and corresponds to a state of agitation, strong apprehension, due to fear, uncertainty or waiting for something whose outcome is not known.
If you are reading this article, perhaps it is precisely because you would like to find the solution that allows you to manage anxiety. Whatever your age you have probably experienced, at least once in your life, what it means to be anxious about something. The state of anxiety can be felt in a lot of different and seemingly neutral situations that sometimes lead us to be excessively agitated until we remain helpless or excessively restless.
At a physiological and biological level there is a mechanism that sees an excessive activation of the Sympathetic Nervous System (SNS) as protagonist. The SNS secretes adrenaline or the hormone responsible for the manifestations that you can feel in these conditions: palpitation, redness of the face, sense of cold and paraesthesia in the hands and feet, polypnea, dizziness, chest tightness, visual disturbances, dry mouth , muscle pain, diarrhea and others (Rassu, in Fava et al. , 1998).
Anxiety resembles fear, but is distinguished from fear for several reasons ;
Fear is one of the five primary emotions along with joy, sadness, anger, and disgust. The emotion of fear is usually very useful for the survival of living beings . Think for example of a lion chasing a prey: the prey is able to escape because it can hear the lion crawling hidden among the plants and even if it does not see it completely it can still perceive a sort of tension, an instinct which makes her heart beat faster and makes her ready to flee. This is fear.
We human beings also feel fear, but unlike animals, our fear takes on different intensities and different characteristics depending on the situations, people and events that surround us.
Anxiety in this case represents one of the many ways in which fear emerges within us.
Fear is useful to us because it activates the ancestral response of attack or flight in us. Thanks to fear we can understand if we are in danger and if it is necessary to move away from a place or to attack.
Anxiety allows us to anticipate fear , to anticipate trying to predict future events and everything that could go wrong. It is a mechanism that helps us organize behavior according to what we think will happen.
In this light, anxiety could be a positive feeling, an ally of ours, which allows us not to take unnecessary risks or to expose ourselves to potentially harmful dangers but rather helps us to face the future.
But then where is the problem?
Anxiety can become problematic when it becomes excessive and uncontrolled fear of environmental and personal stimuli that are not objectively dangerous. For example, being anxious while studying for a question at school usually serves to create the motivation to continue studying in order to better prepare. Feeling anxious before starting to speak in front of an audience is useful for preparing and taking into account the possible variables involved in order to better manage them.
However, there are situations in which anxiety becomes an obstacle : for example when there is an important question in sight and you are unable to study due to excessive anxiety, in these cases it is very easy to get stuck on the page all day. without being able to move forward. Or when during a speech to an audience you freeze without being able to pronounce a single word.
Now that it is clearer what anxiety is, it may be easier for us to understand Picoult’s aphorism at the beginning of the article:
“Anxiety is like a rocking chair: you are always on the move, but you don’t take a step forward.”
As soon as we enter a state of excessive anxiety, our brain reacts by blocking us and starting to make us think and rethink how the interrogation or speech to the audience can go wrong. The apprehension about the future makes us perceive and anticipate the fear of the interrogation, the heart will beat fast and thoughts will flow quickly in our head, keeping us still, immobile and unable to answer questions.
In these cases the anxiety turns into excessive and immobilizing fear; Worrying about the future becomes a block in the present .
What are the most common anxieties among children and adolescents?
Anxiety is a feeling and as such it is totally automatic and involuntary. Even if today we know well the mechanisms of anxiety and its biology in the brain, we are still not able to control it well because it can manifest itself in different contexts and in various forms. Children, teens, and adults can experience emotions, fear and anxiety differently. The contexts in which it occurs and the ways of experiencing and reacting also change.
In the case of children , the most frequent experiences of anxiety are linked to school, social relationships with peers, separation from family or reference figures, experiences that see them as protagonists such as sports and artistic performances. The methods of experimentation are mostly physical and somatic . It is not uncommon to hear children and teenagers reporting stomach or head pain in the face of challenges or obstacles.
Teenagers, like children, they experience anxiety at school, in homework, in social interactions with peers, but unlike children they can experience these feelings in conjunction with other social mechanisms and personal experiences such as comparison with others, the construction of one’s own identity, the first emotional and / or sexual experiences, school and / or work orientation and the search for one’s own decision-making autonomy.
Some more some less has certainly experienced anxiety during the course of their life in one or more of the contexts described above. This highlights that feeling anxiety and fear is normal and frequent: but when the situation worsens, how do you recognize it and how do you react to it effectively so as not to be overwhelmed?
How to recognize and overcome problematic anxiety: advice from psychologists
As we have said, in situations of danger both anxiety and fear play a fundamental role in safeguarding our safety, but there are some situations in our life that bring out these emotional states, becoming real insurmountable obstacles .
One of the biggest problems of our time lies precisely in having to keep up with frenetic rhythms that require a great emotional and physical commitment. In this case, if not managed correctly, anxiety can become corrosive and deleterious.
If anxiety significantly interferes with most of the activities we do during the day then you probably need to consider taking action and having to intervene. In short, it must interfere a lot with the ability to carry out one’s daily life serenely, the tasks and objectives set as one would like, becoming a real impediment.
If an adult is able to realize for himself that he is going through a period characterized by strong states of anxiety, children and adolescents may not notice it or otherwise attribute the discomfort to other causes . One of the parent’s tasks is to try to notice physical signs and behavioral symptoms of anxiety in the child to help him overcome that state. Some of the signs to note are increased heart rate before or during feared situations, excessive increase or loss of concentration to face threat, avoidance or aggression of the fearful, physical pain and somatization.
Problematic or pathological anxiety can lead children and young people to avoid school , homework, social situations, it can interfere with experiences essential for healthy development. It is not uncommon in adolescence to avoid situations by withdrawing into oneself ; in these cases it is more difficult to find excessive forms of anxiety since the boy may not have the physical symptoms described above, but may manifest anxiety in behavioral and relational forms.
Therefore, prevention works and / or, if necessary, psychological support with the child over 12 years of age or with parents for children and younger children are essential.
How To Defeat Pathological Anxiety With A Natural Supplement!
Whether there is a suspicion of an almost problematic anxiety in the life of the children, or if the anxiety symptoms are already in an advanced state, in parallel or as an alternative to psychological support, one of the most effective remedies to defeat pathological anxiety comes from the plant world.
Exerens has formulated a herbal product called Ansirens ®, developed specifically for the needs of children and adolescents who have symptoms of anxiety with or without somatic manifestations . Its drop formulation allows greater handling and action of its components.
It includes the presence of three natural ingredients which, if taken regularly for a period of about 4 weeks, help children and adolescents to overcome periods of high stress and anxiety.
- Rhodiola Rosea is used as a tonic-adaptogen in case of physical and mental fatigue and to promote normal mood. Thanks to its adaptogenic properties it increases the body’s resistance to external stimuli and stress.
- Linden has sedative and anxiolytic properties and promotes relaxation in case of stress.
- Passiflora incarnata promotes mental well-being. Traditional use of Passionflower for the relief of symptoms of mental stress and to aid sleep.
References
- American Psychiatric Association (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.
- Fava, G., Rafanelli, C., & Savron, G. (1998). Anxiety. Italian Caledoiscopio, 121, 3-79.
- Nardone, G. (2010). Fear, panic, phobias. Ponte alle Grazie.
- Bonino, S., & Cattelino, E. (2008). Prevention in adolescence. Psychoeducational courses of intervention on risk and health, Erikson, Trento.