Do you suffer from anxiety? Then you must know how uncomfortable and often terrifying its various symptoms are. And it’s exactly because of those symptoms why you fear having another anxiety attack. This worrying of encountering anxiety is what’s known as anticipatory anxiety, and this article will teach you some very important matters about it.
Kindly share this article afterwards on your different social media sites, especially if you have family members and friends who admittedly are suffering from anxiety, too!
The body is designed to prepare itself in times of danger, in particular activating the so-called fight or flight response. This is actually a good thing as it helps increase your odds of surviving whenever there is a threat. When your fight or flight response is activated, you tend to experience a host of physiological symptoms.
Unfortunately, it’s not always that the fight or flight response is activated at the right time, and this is when a problem happens. If your body goes into fight or flight mode without any danger in sight, it’s for certain that you will feel anxious. Repeatedly, this can leave you with generalized anxiety disorder.
It’s not unlikely for someone who has anxiety to have what’s known as anticipatory anxiety, which is something that can cause increased levels of anxiety due to thinking about having an anxiety attack in the future.
Causes
You may be experiencing anticipatory anxiety if you are not in a situation that can leave you feeling anxious, but still you feel anxious simply by thinking about an upcoming event or circumstance that can potentially trigger an anxiety attack. So in other words, anticipatory anxiety is anxiety due to fear of having an anxiety attack.
If you suffer from an anxiety attack at a particular place or while doing a particular activity, you may consider that place or activity as something that puts you in some form of danger.
Most likely, you will try to avoid going to that very same place or doing that very same activity again because your mind has just been programmed to associate that place or activity with danger. Sometimes, just thinking about going to the said place or engaging in the said activity again is enough for you to feel anxious.
Symptoms
The symptoms of anticipatory anxiety are just like the ones you tend to experience during an anxiety attack. Some of them include rapid heart rate, shortness of breath and dizziness.
Different people with anxiety experience different symptoms during an attack. Some may experience hot flashes or cold chills, while others may have tingling sensation in or numbing of the arms and legs. A lot of people with anxiety experience an upset stomach during an attack.
According to experts, anticipatory anxiety can be considered as a component of panic attacks, which is a sudden feeling of overwhelming anxiety. If you have experienced a panic attack before, then you have an idea on how intense the symptoms can be, so much so that it’s not unlikely for a lot of people to think that they are dying.
Remedies
First things first: if you are suffering from anxiety and it’s something that is already keeping you from leading a normal and happy life, it’s definitely a good idea for you to see a professional.
There are drugs available for anticipatory anxiety that are for generalized anxiety and panic attacks.
Aside from taking drugs, there are some all-natural solutions for anticipatory anxiety, too. Needless to say, they are also the ones commonly recommended for controlling anxiety and panic attacks.
It can help a lot if you admit to yourself that the future is something that you cannot control. Considering positive outcomes can also help alleviate nervous thoughts that can contribute to anticipatory anxiety. Distracting yourself such as listening to music, watching a movie or talking to someone can also help.
