What is Anxiety, What is It Trying to Tell You and How Do You Treat It Get Treatment? When Is It A Trauma Response?
- Lisa Shouldice
- Apr 11
- 6 min read
What is Anxiety?
So many people identify with anxiety or a feeling of dread and fear in their gut.
80% of people report having a panic attack at some point, an intense danger response with heart palpitations and difficulty breathing in their life. This may include thoughts of feeling you are dying.
There are also less well-known atypical panic attacks that include bursts of anger or an intense need to clean etc., so with this expanded definition, we likely have all had a panic attack. You may feel trembly and weak. It is awful right?
It interferes with your ability to work, complete daily tasks and get the social support you need so badly. It is also THE mental health concern that is plaguing Gen Z. So let’s unpack the experience, what it is and what to do about it, get treatment.
What is Your Anxiety Trying to Tell You?
I have found in my over 20 years as a Trauma- specialized Psychotherapist that anxiety is 1 of 2 things. It is our nervous system telling us “too much”, “too much change”, “ I am overwhelmed”. Anxiety is like a temperature, it is our emotional centre telling us there is something wrong. When we have a virus or infection a temperature alerts us to a problem in the system. Anxiety is an emotional temperature.
So what is wrong? Is It Time to Get Treatment?
Take some time to sit with it and really reflect on your recent experience of anxiety. Maybe there has been a lot at once, a recent loss of a relationship, a fight with a dating partner…
Life can be hard and sometimes we expect to just keep going and push through, but our emotional centre loves us enough to let you know you need self-care, so anxiety symptoms escalate. The world we live in is anxiety-inducing with constant stressors and overstimulation.
Some things we can do something about and some we can’t. We can try to pace ourselves and major changes. We can ensure our self-care is optimal, including physical activity to lower cortisol levels. We can talk to loved ones about our feelings to these changes and transitions in our lives. All of this treats anxiety.
The second thing it can be is generalized anxiety from a history of personal trauma. If you grew up in chaos and abuse it is impossible to learn affect regulation in that environment. So you will spend your life having to learn this regulation on you own. This will include a wrap-around healing journey. This is a process rather than a destination. You will need to learn to feel safe in the world, lack of safety is what your anxiety is telling you. There is treatment available.
There is also a genetic component. What this means is it takes less external stimuli to create an anxiety response in you. So self-care will always need to be optimal. You may go through years where it is manageable and then it feels intense and uncontrollable at times as well.
Sitting with Anxiety to Build Self-insight and Aid Decision-making
We all need to carve out space to sit with feelings. Reflect on where we have been and where we are going.
How did you handle that criticism from you boss? What could you have done better?
How are you feeling in your closest friendship? How do you talk to each other to communicate and create a healthy dynamic for both of you?
Do you feel shaky after a recent fight with your partner? Is re-bonding needed here?
We all need time to reflect on feelings and relationships the same way we exercise or eat nutritious foods. I believe if we created space for this in our lives, always, we would have reduced anxiety symptoms. We need to know what we fell to know who we are, what we need and how to communicate this. We are not born knowing this.
How do You know When to sit with feelings to regulate Anxiety and when it is best to distract yourself?
When is anxiety trying to tell us something? When is it taking in an unhelpful spiral that it is best to avoid?
This is why we need to practice reflection and personal observation so we know our experience of anxiety.
If you are an emotionally sensitive person, an empath that feels deeply often, sitting with feelings and processing them will need to be a regular practice.
If you have a personal trauma history with generalized anxiety, sitting with feelings is still something I recommend, but you will also need to use self-care techniques to calm your central nervous system on a regular basis. Ex. Exercise, breathing and meditation practices, walking in nature, playing with your dog, listening to music, enjoying good food.
If you experience intense critical thoughts, have spirals into health anxiety, this is more complex. Get to know your critical voice. It is also trying to tell you something.
I find it is often a protective function, afraid you will get hurt again, look foolish etc. But it is likely turned up too high, causing pain. This is when it is best to choose a favorite way to calm the central nervous system ex. Go camping this weekend.
If health anxiety is the form your anxiety takes, seemingly searching for something to worry about when you know you are healthy, it may be best to distract yourself with a favourite activity.
When Anxiety is more than Anxiety, a Trauma Response?
I mentioned above that anxiety can be more than anxiety. Anxiety can be part of your trauma symptoms from a challenging childhood. This is related to safety.
Our childhood teaches how about what to expect in the world, how to feel and navigate it. If you grew up with abuse and chaos, you learned that people are chaotic, unsafe and not to be trusted. This leads to a regular, chronic anxiety experience. Makes sense right?
We are developmental beings. So we wire based on childhood experience. This can be changed. But it will need to include a long-term process and healing lifestyle to do so. I know this may seem really unfair. But abuse is unfair. Every relationship you have that is safe will teach you new things about people. And the healing lifestyle I recommend below (treatment section) would actually benefit all of us.
When Anxiety Is Linked to Depression
When we feel anxious a lot we tend get depressed too. They seem to go together in many ways. Anxiety is hard when it has been relentless. It makes us worry we can’t control it. It also depletes us, causing a crash. If anxiety has been plaguing you for a long time and depression is cycling as well, it is time to get help.
Living Getting treatment for Anxiety and/or Trauma
I would love to see you build a life encompassed in self-care with the goal of treating healing anxiety and trauma symptoms everyday. This will ensure you live optimally. It is hard to do the right things for ourselves when we are anxious and depressed. So best to begin these anxiety treatment methods in a better time and make it a regular practice to protect your mental health.
Have a good morning routine to address anxiety. Exercise to break down cortisol and adrenaline to mitigate panic. Meditate to calm the central nervous system. Journal to check in with your emotional centre, know today’s vulnerabilities. Have your fav morning beverage outside, listening to birdsong and the wind in the trees. Enjoy the quiet. It is worth getting up early. If you are a night hawk, do this at night! This is one of the best ways to treat anxiety and trauma symptoms.
Create space to talk to friends about your current stressors. Get out together to distract each other from hardships and have fun together too. It is amazing how connecting with people reminds us that that people are good and wonderful, sometimes it is easy to lose sight of that.
Talk to your doctor about your mental health. Your GP and support you in getting anxiety and trauma treatment. There are medications and resources available.
Maybe a healing retreat is covered by your workplace. Have you thought about a 10-day silent retreat? It is free and will change your life.
Spend your days off in nature, cuddling you pet and being quiet within your centre. Life can be frenetic.
Get moving! What about kayaking this weekend?
Building that deck you’ve been wanting to get to?
See a Naturopathic Doctor. They can look deeper, offer herbal supplements, laser therapies and/or help you figure out how diet works in this equation.
It is also OK to talk to a therapy professional. Heal your spirit from a recent breakup, death in the family, end of a long friendship. We are here BOOK NOW.
Lisa S.
