Processing Anxiety Part II

The article Processing Anxiety lists several different methods one can use to reduce his or her anxiety level. One major point that this article failed to mention is that after social anxiety, or any anxiety has been successfully processed, it no longer bothers the individual in question. This is why using methods that do not include the use of medication are preferable; medication is most accurately termed as a way of suppressing symptoms so that one can actually enter into severely anxiety- provoking situations.

How does this actually work? It is very difficult to tell, but this article will go into as much detail as it can on how it might work. Say a particular method, such as talking to supportive friends (see Anxiety Support Network’s Supportive Friends) is one method that a person prefers to use to deal with his or her anxiety. Whenever this person feels anxious about a particular situation, say confronting an obnoxious coworker, say that he or she talks to a friend or mentor about the different types of anxious thoughts floating through his or her mind. In some rare cases, the person will confront that person at work, let him or her know that what he or she is doing is not okay, and this person will feel some sort of epiphany go off in his or her head. He or she feels as though he or she is the most powerful person in the world, and that he or she can handle any such situation should it arise in the future.

It would be nice if things worked this way, but unfortunately, it seems as though they most often do not work in this way. What happens is that this person performs the confrontation and then again talks to a supportive friend about the anxiety surrounding the situation. The person will note that he or she feels as though he or she was a little less anxious than the previous time such a situation occurred. He or she feels as though the next time such a situation occurs that he or she will feel challenged, but not quite as anxious as this time. Processing anxiety seems to work more in small, incremental steps like this.

The fantastic thing about processing anxiety is that once progress has been made, it can never be taken away. Progress, in relation to anxiety, is permanent. Of course, some will say, “I remember a time when I was much less anxious and much more confident in situation X than I am now.” Some level of anxiety, when performing a task that is unfamiliar or that has fallen out of one’s routine for whatever reason, is very reasonable. Successful processing of anxiety eliminates that unnecessary anxiety, the anxiety that only those who suffer from an anxiety disorder experience.

As noted in the opening paragraph, this is something that medication cannot provide, and therefore, why it is best viewed as a short-term and impermanent solution. Medication simply changes the flow of neurotransmitters so that physiological symptoms of anxiety are not as intense. One is still the same person. If medication rewired a person’s brain such that that person was totally confident in situations that previously caused him or her great anxiety, then medication would no doubt be a viable alternative (although this raises many ethical issues). But, medication does not do this and will not any time in the near future, so this is an irrelevant issue.

When someone is interpreting the same situation that has been causing him or her great anxiety in a new way that reduces his or her anxiety, and he or she believes it, then his or her brain seems to be rewired. The neurotransmitter flow and synapses seem to have been altered permanently such that this person is now a very different, and improved, person. This is the goal of anxiety recovery and also is precisely the point for one to engage in whatever methods help him or her to successfully process anxiety. Great change is possible, but only through hard work. Good luck to all social anxiety and anxiety sufferers as they attempt to accomplish this goal!

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