Fear and anxiety and stress are close cousins yet distinct from each other.
Fear, evolutionary speaking, is a useful, protective trait critical for survival. It sharpens our senses and prepares our body to face sudden danger. Critically, fear is our response to a real threat and imminent danger. Fear has a cause that is both tangible and present and is usually something specific.
Anxiety is usually a fear of an indefinite something that we cannot always explain or even locate in space and time.
Stress is the way our bodies and minds react to something which upsets our normal balance in life. Stress is how we feel and how our bodies react when we are fearful or anxious. Some level of stress has some upside to mind and body function to enable us to react in a positive way. Too much stress though, is both harmful to the body and our performance. How much is too much? Well, that depends… on you and how you respond.
As fear is a critical survival mechanism in response to a real threat, stress from fear is something to be tolerated in order to survive. Anxiety, on the other hand, is fear looking for a reason.
Anxiety is fear looking for a reason.
In the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) there is a category for “General Anxiety Disorder” (GAD). Diagnostic criteria for GAD are: Excessive and difficult-to-tame anxiety and worry occurring more days than not for at least 6 months about a number of events or activities. And you have 3 or more of the following symptoms:
- Restlessness or feeling keyed up or on edge
- Being easily fatigued
- Difficulty concentrating or mind going blank
- Irritability
- Muscle tension
- Sleep disturbance
Also, the worry should not be about something specific.
Manifest symptoms cause clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational or other important areas of functioning in life.
As you read through the clinical diagnosis, if you think, “yeap, that’s me”, you need to stop right now and book an appointment to visit your doctor. So, just check the details again, is your anxiety occurring more days than not? At least 3 of the symptoms? IS your anxiety causing you significant distress? Again, if your answers are yes, you need to seek professional advice.
Anxiety is the tacit awareness that something is missing or wrong in our lives or that our values an aspirations are out of focus or under threat.
Active versus passive fear
Taking action in response to threatening stimuli enables us to engage in active oping strategies instead of a fearful response. The central nucleus of the amygdala plays a critical role here. Specifically, “Type 1” cells in the Central Nucleus (CeA) that, when activated, inhibit transmission activity. When inhibited, the CeA is selectively silenced. This silencing is linked to activity in the frontal region of the brain (the Cholinergenic basal forebrain) which is known for its arousing influence on parts of the brain cortex. In short, silence the CeA and you more actively seek a way out of a threatening situation.
The bed nucleus of the stria terminals (BNST) mediates slower-onset, longer-lasting responses that frequently accompany sustained threats, and that may persist even after threat termination. Continuing the feeling of anxiety.
It is possible to bypass, or at least significantly reduce, the anxiety experience by training ourselves to use alternate pathways.
We can avoid being gripped by anxiety. Not by withdrawing from life, but by actively choosing to negotiate ourselves away from negative thinking and engaging in more pleasurable activities and constructive behaviour.
So why do we persist in ever being anxious?
We worry because we think that worrying is the most useful, and sometimes the only apparently useful, strategy and keeps us preoccupied and safe. I.e. it keeps us from taking action to deal with the situation.
If we want to beat anxiety, we must be disciplined to exercise our incredible capacity to conquer it with calm and positivity. Every time we purposefully take action towards change, we contribute to the creation and consolidation of new behavioural responses and the underlying neural circuits that can bypass our anxious response.
Your Brain on Stress and Anxiety – Infographic
