There is an alarming number of people in first-world, industrialized cultures who are suffering from anxiety disorder today. In fact, according to the National Institute of Health about 40 million people deal with it each year. This is at epidemic levels.
Instead of trying to acclimate to the disorder and medicate its symptoms (something that could have problematic, potentially damaging effects), you should try to discover why it’s happening so you can overcome its underlying causes.
Once anxiety has become so commonplace it’s time to look at our culture which is responsible for our lifestyle. In doing so you’ll find that people who are suffering from this disorder are mirroring an overwrought lifestyle. Turning the victim into the problem here doesn’t make any sense whatsoever. The fact that so many people are suffering in this way suggests our lifestyle doesn’t make sense and that we also have a dysfunctional worldview.
We need to stop seeing this disorder as our enemy and start seeing it as the way we express how we’re adapting to the way we’re living. In doing so you’ll see that anxiety as a reaction to toxic conditions makes sense. Here it’s like having a fever. It calls our attention to something that isn’t well.
Moving Through Anxiety
While medication can be useful in dealing with anxiety, people also need to develop resources to deal with their distress. People should learn how to move through their feelings instead of defending against them. They should learn to see this feeling as a signal that something needs to change.
Addiction to Analyzation
We’ve learned to depend on measurement and analysis to help us control and master our lives and environment. While the predictability and certainty it fosters are fruitful in moderation can become pathological in extreme. This is what we’re now seeing rule our world. We’ve come to subject all experiences and emotions to rational and analytical judgment.
By pursuing predictability we lose our way. Our response is excessive worrying which overwhelms our sense of wonder, awe, and imagination. These things are all important to living a balanced, harmonious life.
When you become overwhelmed by your anxious thoughts you lose yourself in measuring the tendency of your thoughts and separate yourself from a coherent flow of living. There’s a compulsive need to compare and measure. This makes us feel estranged from others which imprisons the anxious person in their compulsive thoughts and leads them into despair.
Reshaping Reality
When you can’t stop questioning your decision-making we’re no longer protecting ourselves against the wrong choices. Instead, we’re giving way to anxiety and undermining our self-esteem. The more captive you become to your thoughts, the more your thoughts will become fragmented, and the more anxious you’ll feel. All of this happens because you’ve managed to become so captive to your thoughts the more likely you are to miss out on life’s flow.
Keeping Score
Have you ever noticed people keeping score on a scorecard at a baseball game? These people are taking note of every play, watching the card instead of watching the game. This is the same thing that can happen when we let our anxiety consume our lives. It can steal life’s joy from us simply because our inward dialogue is self-measuring and way too critical.
Outside of the way that society contributes to a person’s anxious nature, some personal and biographical things can contribute to the way we’re feeling. This is why it’s so important to learn some ways to break free from these feelings and the thinking that comes with it. Sometimes we need some help doing this though so if you find yourself living in Clearwater and Tampa Bay, FL, and struggling with anxiety or another mental health condition contact Advantage Mental Health Center for the help you need today.
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