The most common reason that we hear from our clients for booking an appointment with our Psychologists is to help manage anxiety. It is common for people to feel “anxiety about anxiety” or “fear or the fear”.
When a great ship is in harbour and moored,
it is safe, there can be no doubt.
But that is not what great ships are built for.
Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Poet and Psychoanalyst
Anxiety can rob us of our natural spontaneity and ability to flourish in the world. There is a part of our brain called the amygdala that is constantly scanning for anything that could be wrong (either outside of our head in the physical world or via our thoughts and body sensations). Humans who could do this well tended to anticipate and respond to threats and survive whereas those who did not do this well died out…. so evolutionary wise this is a very adaptive process. However we are now confronted with an increasing avalanche of information never before needing to be processed to this degree by the human brain. So people whose brain’s are genetically most sensitive to this (or have been primed short term to be more sensitive due to being tired, hungry, stressed, unwell or sleep deprived) can find that the struggle with anxiety becomes overwhelming.
Anxious thoughts and feelings (while they can be intensely uncomfortable) cannot ultimately do anything however when we change our actions or behaviour in response to the anxiety that can start to interfere with living life the way that feels happy and meaningful for us. We can become preoccupied and avoidant – staying in a short term safe but not so satisfying zone….not to mention that our body can become exhausted and run down.
Anxiety usually responds well to psychological treatment. Our experienced Best Psychologists Brisbane can help you to change the way you relate to and process anxious thoughts and feelings so that you can find a happier medium!