Inside An Anxious Brain; Anxiety Changes Your Perception on Reality

Anxiety is one of the worst emotions to feel. Having severe anxiety can make doing everyday tasks impossible, and it is near debilitating. It is important for people to understand how someone with anxiety feels because it is a mental issue.

For those who suffer from anxiety know it more than anyone – it is extremely hard to describe how anxiety feels. It’s really a combination of having a tight chest, loss of breath, and extreme nervousness and discomfort. It feels like a constant heaviness in your mind; like something isn’t quite right, although oftentimes you don’t know exactly what that something is. For people who suffer from anxiety, things can seem perfect, but for some reason, it is like a voice in the back of your head telling you that everything is quite the opposite. Treating anxiety can be difficult because some medications work and some don’t. Even if they do work for you, they are not healthy for your body, so it is best to find a natural solution for your anxiety attacks.

There has to be a neurological explanation for anxiety and panic attacks, but what is it? What is going on in your brain when you feel as if your mind is on fire with panic. Anxiety does evoke the same “fight or flight” response that stress does, which means, like stress, anxiety will trigger a flood of stress hormones like cortisol designed to enhance your speed, reflexes, heart rate, and circulation. However, stress can occur with feelings of anger, sadness, or even happiness and excitement. Anxiety disorders will persist for months even when there’s no clear reason to be anxious. While the exact causes for anxiety disorders are unknown, your brain is actively involved.

It’s thought that anxiety disorders may result from a combination of nature (your genetics) and nurture (your environment). For instance, if you grow up in an environment with frequent yelling or abuse. It might make you prone to looking out for potential threats, even when they’re no longer there. In a sense, your brain becomes “wired” for anxiety, such that any potentially undesirable event or emotion becomes a cause for alarm. Anxiety comes in many different forms based on the person. Each person responds to it differently, however, I’ve included a video simulation of how anxiety feels.