To be clear, anxious for no reason in this article means you think you’re body is triggering physical anxiety for no reason, reasons you can’t explain, or reasons you aren’t aware of.
Recognize that we (humans) get immediately anxious when we’re faced with what we genuinely think is a life-or-death situation. Doesn’t that show that we have the machinery to experience fear/anxiety at “the flip of a switch?”
Does it not sound plausible that this machinery could be used for things we think are dangerous to us in some way? For example, if we think looking stupid or weak is unacceptable and therefore dangerous to us in some way, why wouldn’t our bodies automatically trigger the fear response when doing or considering something where we’d look stupid?
These two psychologists weigh in to explain that although it feels like we get anxious for no reason, there usually is a reason which can often be found in the thoughts we had at the time of the physical anxiety. They and I suggest that if we take enough time to reflect, we can uncover these reasons.
I sometimes ask people what they were thinking when they experienced a disturbed mood. Some people will say “my mind was blank,” or “I wasn’t thinking anything,” which is consistent with the aforementioned (though debated) definition of a mood. From a learning perspective, this makes sense. Over time, beliefs may become so strongly associated with specific triggers that they are elicited automatically and relatively unconsciously by the brain. Even though the beliefs may be inaccessible to consciousness, they affect us nonetheless (much like subliminal presentations) because of older pathways in the brain that have evolved to prepare us immediately for action. Malek Mneime, Ph.D.Tweet
To learn how to find and eliminate your physical anxiety triggers, check out our solutions.
Another look into why it feels like we get anxious for no reason is here.
